The Shadow Lands
by itachizx1
Summary: This story takes place across the sea from the main story in Naruto. Enjoy! By the way there is heavy Japanese word use in some areas, I will be translating either next to the word or at the bottom of each respective chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a long walk from the market to home for Karasu, the shadow village was built and designed for defense making it impossible to ever walk around buildings or take shortcuts it was a straight shot all the way, with diverging paths that also were their own straight shots.

Her father had said it was based on a grid so soldiers could get to the areas as fast and efficiently as possible to hold back invaders, and the Shogun, Counts, Lords, and Jonin could give orders accurately and effectively. She could not jump from building to building making her walk shorter by cutting general traffic and by staying above normal pedestrians, because the roofs of the buildings were literally covered in explosive paralyzing kunai, the slightest pressure and the roof would explode and send chakra laced kunai into the unlucky soul who had stepped on it, killing and at the very least paralyzing his movement by stopping all chakra flow in his body. Then the roof would activate its inlaid chakra channels producing hundreds more kunai instantly. Her father told her it was much like a summoning jutsu except the house activated it.

She was a genin and did not have the rank or family influence to get herself the talisman that all chunin and higher had acquired enabling roof travel. She sighed and continued walking on the street like everyone else. She moved left down the west wing of the road; that her house lay on, the road was much less crowded then the large northbound road that led to the Shogun's castle and the Lord's village directly after the castle walls. This one was a minor street and it was turning dark she assumed it was past nine. Though she need not worry her family was only a minor house that held minor power no one would ever want to kidnap or attack her. At least that's what she kept telling herself as the street became even narrower.

Her house was still far and the lights were dim when she heard them, three big men. Moving slowly and bumping into things obviously they had just finished at the sake den that was near the old gnarled tree, the halfway point to her house. They were moving towards her, albeit slowly and meanderingly. She tried to get as far to the right as she was able no need to entice them to violence, they had no shill in nin-jutsu it was obvious yet they could still overpower her she was only 15 and was a slight and thin 5'8. She maybe weighed 130 soaking wet. These men were obviously inches taller than her and much, much heavier. As she drew closer and closer to them she realized how similar they looked to everyone else in the village, black hair and average features, she was no different other than the slight purplish tint she had to her long hair, which is why her mother had named her raven, for its wings had the same color to them.

Her favorite aspect of herself was her hair it fell to the small of her back and was straight and sleek like silk. All of these things paled in her mind to the predicament she found herself in the men were drawing ever closer. Her mind being in a state of paranoia looked and thought of escape routes the buildings were not an option and she could not simply disappear so she resigned herself to pressing against the buildings to her right and hoped that she would go unnoticed. Yet they came ever closer, she noticed one of the men seemed more sober than the rest he also seemed to be the leader of the little group. They were close enough now where she could see them very clearly and they could see her, she thought it best to continue walking acting as if nothing was bothering her, thought the tumult inside of her was clearly visible on her face.

She began to pseudo-hyperventilate, she was becoming more and more concerned as they drew so close to her that she could smell them. They smelled of cheap alcohol and sweat from the day's labors. They were right on top of her now she took one step, two, then, they passed her, and nothing had happened she breathed a sigh of relief. When suddenly she heard "hey you girl."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She turned slowly and replied "yes?" the men turned towards her the leader was the one that had called out they began walking towards her slowly and lethargically they reached her and the leader pushed the other two out of the way and asked, "what is your name little missy"? She replied "Karasu" "a simple enough name hey boys?" he replied.

He then threw his arm around her and said "listen little missy me and the boys here have been at work for a long time and the den did not have any company for us to enjoy just us selves. We are mighty lonely." Karasu was frightened she knew what they meant and intended; she thought her best bet would be to play dumb. "Well sir" she said "there is an inn down the road a ways that can provide that for you along with other things as well." He casually replied "why would we do that little missy when we have a pretty little bird in our grasp right now?" "We is tired of walking and just want to have a little fun right here and now." He smile evilly and yelled "boys grab her legs." Karasu screamed as the men grabbed her and the leader pointed off the road a bit and the men drunkenly carried her over there. She screamed louder than before and the leader gaged and blindfolded her so she could scream and see no more.

Karasu was in a state of panic she prayed in her head to all the gods she knew of to stop this from happening. The men then bound her then threw her down on the ground roughly. The leader began to untie the sash around his waist. Karasu closed her eyes wishing she were dead or somewhere else entirely. She could feel him get closer and closer to her when one of the men ripped of her outer shirt leaving her with only a bra to cover herself. She tried to scream again yet the gag made the scream a muffled wail. The man tried to remove the bra as well, and Karasu had all but resigned herself to her fate when, suddenly their was a scream on her left, a blood-curdling scream of a man being torn in two or burned alive. Then immediately to her right she heard another, then soon following that one the leader got to say "plea" before he too made a horrible scream.

All of these screams had been barley separated by a second or two. Then almost simultaneously she heard three bodies hit the ground. Along with what she assumed was some kind of liquid splash on the walls. She then heard what seemed like the sound a ghost would make escaping a body a sort of sigh and gasp at the same time from one man then the next and finally the leader. The entire time she was also conscious but just barely of someone moving around and kneeling next to each body.

Karasu still bound gaged and blindfolded attempted to sit up, she failed once, then again, and then finally she was able to sit up. There were still the odd sighs coming from the men who lay around her, she wondered who had saved her if the men were dead and if this new someone had the same thing in mind, in her anxiety she lost her balance and fell into the dirt again. Frustrated with herself she tried sitting up again only to find that a hand grabbed her shoulder and helped her to sit up.

The hand was firm and strong and rough a mans hand, it was also cold almost ice cold not to the point of discomfort but almost. It helped her up then the hand reached towards her ropes and loosed them. Then using both of his icy hands he removed her gag and blindfold. When he removed her blindfold she tried to see who it was but he was in shadow her eyes had not adjusted as of yet. She could tell he was tall 6'1 by her reckoning and also thin but not un-muscular she could start to see some definition now though it was only small details. He was wearing a black cloak and underneath black or smoke grey colored ninja armor. He also carries a satchel for his gear including the kunai that had cut through her ropes. As she went to look upon his face he turned and began walking away.

Not a word he had just saved her and was now walking away. She was too stunned at first to try to say or think anything, so instead she looked around and saw three men's bodies in the dirt sitting in a pool of their own blood. She stood up to avoid the blood, which was soaking into the ground. The men looked normal except for the leader who had had his throat ripped out or something of the sort. She had never seen something so gruesome. She turned back towards him and saw he was now almost at the end of the street she could not let him leave without thanking him, so she shouted, "wait please wait."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Karasu still bound gaged and blindfolded attempted to sit up, she failed once, then again, and then finally she was able to sit up. There were still the odd sighs coming from the men who lay around her, she wondered who had saved her if the men were dead and if this new someone had the same thing in mind, in her anxiety she lost her balance and fell into the dirt again. Frustrated with herself she tried sitting up again only to find that a hand grabbed her shoulder and helped her to sit up.

The hand was firm and strong and rough a mans hand, it was also cold almost ice cold not to the point of discomfort but almost. It helped her up then the hand reached towards her ropes and loosed them. Then using both of his icy hands he removed her gag and blindfold. When he removed her blindfold she tried to see who it was but he was in shadow her eyes had not adjusted as of yet. She could tell he was tall 6'1 by her reckoning and also thin but not un-muscular she could start to see some definition now though it was only small details. He was wearing a black cloak and underneath black or smoke grey colored ninja armor. He also carries a satchel for his gear including the kunai that had cut through her ropes. As she went to look upon his face he turned and began walking away. Not a word he had just saved her and was now walking away. She was too stunned at first to try to say or think anything, so instead she looked around and saw three men's bodies in the dirt sitting in a pool of their own blood. She stood up to avoid the blood, which was soaking into the ground. The men looked normal except for the leader who had had his throat ripped out or something of the sort. She had never seen something so gruesome. She turned back towards him and saw he was now almost at the end of the street she could not let him leave without thanking him, so she shouted, "wait please wait."

Blood, blood on his hands he was tired of blood, sick and tired disgusted really. It was repulsive repugnant and stuck to his close and hands long after he was done bathing himself in it. Sure he could tell himself that it had been to save one who was in danger or that the souls he stole from those men he had killed deserved to never reach paradise. It was a pretty thought but one that was not founded in any logical sense.

In the middle of the circle of soulless dead men he had left lying there the girl slowly rose. Now was he time to leave, the villagers of the shadow village all despised him he could not meet their eyes for fear of the pure hatred he could feel radiating from them. He turned keeping his eyes focused on the ground and his feet. Moving slowly away, he considered the "fight" if you could call it that it was more a slaughter than anything as it always with his Jikangan. Not that he needed it he simply didn't want those filthy degenerates to touch her any more than they already had. He sighed he hated men for what they did to women. He hated being one at all, they were often despicable he took comfort in the thought that at the very least he was still chivalrous.

He had almost reached the end of the street when he heard a ragged yell "wait please I need to thank you." He froze mid step the demon inside of him whispered in his ear it's a trap don't trust her she hates you just as much as they all do he told him to quiet himself and put his still frozen in mid air foot down, and turned slowly, she was beautiful he had seen that easily while she was tied. The hope of her not striking him in fear and the hope of seeing no hate in her eyes was enough to get him to stop and turn. He, being the pessimistic cynic he was still expecting her to do one of the things that everyone did, if she did he told himself he would never stop again. He would just run after he had saved or met someone for if she hated and feared him he would lose all hope he had. She would be the final straw.

Karasu had almost yelled again when he stopped and turned, but he didn't move towards her he simply stood there with his head bowed. She tied her shirt back on though it was ripped it was enough to cover herself. Thinking his non-movement odd she walked quickly towards him. Their was something familiar about him he was indeed tall as she had seen, he was lean as well built like a fighter with lean sharp muscles that looked ready to snap. He was fidgeting a little like he had a tick or maybe… "Is he nervous?" she asked herself, then wondered why in the world he would be nervous.

She was nearer to him now and saw more of him he had dark black hair black as the night with definite red streaks in it was styled to accent the streaks it looked like their was blood of a sort in his hair it was combed to either side of his head covering each ear and one eye was partially covered by it. Though when he shifted as she got closer it moved and both eyes were visible, though she was still too far to see them clearly. His jaw was pronounced and strong and he was clean-shaven, with no facial scars or cuts. His cheeks were almost to the point of gauntness as if it had been a long winter. She finally reached him standing an arms length away and simply said "thank you." He looked up and she saw his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

She was taken aback in point of fact she took two steps back. Though he would not look directly at her she could clearly see his eyes, they were pure black all the way around his eyes and pupil and iris nothing but blackness. She had a scream ready and was about to unleash it when suddenly she looked at his eyes closer.

They were dark yes but not menacing at all or angry. In fact she looked and saw only sadness a deep dark depression that made her slightly melancholy just by looking at his eyes. He eyes also betrayed that he was scared not of her but of her pending reaction all of these facts flew through her mind, and she realized that she would destroy him if she screamed. So she took those two steps closer to him again and looked at his face for he would not meet her eyes, and simply said "thank you so much." He knew it when she had looked upon his eyes he knew she would do what she did. He saw her take two steps back, and prepare to scream, how could she not? He knew his eyes were the eyes of a demon, which is why her reaction was expected and predicted.

However when he was about to leave to avoid the ear-shattering scream she was about to unleash. She instead breathed in and out and stepped closer to him and said thank you so much. He was so shocked he forgot himself momentarily and looked her directly in the eyes. Dumbfounded he looked at the windows to her soul. Her eyes were a violet color more purple than blue. Oddly enough they matched her hair. They were slightly fearful and slightly flighty, however the main thing he saw was happiness for him for her he could not tell. But their she was looking back in his eyes totally without the hate he saw in others eyes. He wanted to cry, he had not looked at another set of eyes in nearly four years. Hers were beautiful.

He quickly looked away realizing the eye contact had gone on for a while. He nodded his head at her and turned to leave, not comfortable to speak to her. He began walking away from the need to speak no one had heard his voice in three years, he did not want to say something wrong. Karasu looked and met his gaze the surprise she saw their was almost laughable. It is as if he had expected her to simply scream and run, when she did neither the surprise was too much for the poor boy. After a period of him looking into her eyes, he nodded as in a your welcome without saying it. Now it was her turn to be surprised that was it? She was not going to let that slide, she reached and grabbed his arm and said, "wait." "Hold on a minute you didn't even tell me your name how am I supposed to regale this tale of chivalry if I don't have your name?" With her grip on his arm she could fell the muscle beneath the cloth of his sleeve it was not un-welcome to her. So when he turned back she let her arm fall and blushed slightly. She then apologized for grabbing him. She was still adamant about his name though. She looked at him defiantly as if no matter what she was going to get his name. "You really should talk to her Marr," the demon said "she might be the one that we have been searching for." "Humph I doubt it now quiet yourself plus I am afraid." He thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After about three minutes of him standing avoiding her gaze, she said, "well if you wont talk to me then why don't I take you home to meet my parents?" "I have never seen anybody able to resist talking to my dad and maybe on the walk back you will want to talk to me? Plus I would feel safer with you there would you escort me home?" She said that last one with a wink; her mother had not raised a fool.

He looked like he wanted to say no for a moment then he nodded. "Marr you fool what are you doing? Listen if her parents see you they will know what you are she is too young but they will know." Said the demon, "listen Agramon for the rest of the night I want you to be quiet and stay out of my affairs. Okay?" Marr thought to himself. "Without me you would have been dead ages ago but fine I will sit and observe what the hell else do I have to do?" They had been walking a while when he noticed the girl start to walk faster slightly, meaning they were close. It was now, or never. He would not have her idea of him tarnished by her parents.

He swallowed once, twice, and then said, "My lady I would prefer to not go to your house for I am not fit for your company." Karasu turned to him and said, "So you can talk. It is not a bad voice you should use it more often and, yes you are fit for my parents and especially me you are my savior after all, no matter what you look like I will not have you run off." "But my lady." "No butts you have no choice in the matter." Karasu said, and don't call me that I am not a lady call me Karasu. He nodded and continued walking; she then wanted to know about him so he was not a complete stranger, she asked, "what is your name? and how old are you?" "I am called Marr and I am 16 years old by your villages reckoning.

How old are you my lady and what is your house name"? Marr asked. Karasu said, "I am 15 and my house name is Monshi, and will you stop calling me that?" "I am sorry my lad… I mean Karasu." "That is a good house it has maintained its honor throughout many wars." "What about your house Marr kun?" She asked, "I have none my parents died when I was young and I did not assume their name." He replied. She was taken aback she had never met a person without a house. She wasn't sure what that meant for his class or his rank. "She asked are you a jonin? You beat those guys pretty quick." He replied, "No I am nothing I never went to Ninjutsu School in any sense of our military system." "How did you defeat them then?" she asked. He did not reply. They finally reached her door she opened it took of her shoes and started walking inside. When she realized he was standing at the threshold without entering. She told him "you can come in please do." He sighed and entered.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Marr stepped through the door and removed his shoes as well no need to be rude. If they were going to hate him anyways no need to drag mud into her house, it would not do to make things worse.

He sighed once again and said "my lady I really wish you would not make me do this." Karasu turned and said, "what did I say about that and it does not matter what you think. Imagine trying to tell my father what those men almost did and then explaining how I escaped without you. Not fun for me." Marr sighed once again and followed her into what he assumed was the living room of the house. The outside of the house was as all shadow land buildings were. Hard brown and blacks, with straight architectural lines not built for comfort but for defense this one was unique in that it had a reddish colored wood that he was not familiar with but accented the blacks and browns.

It was just as pleasant inside hard wood floors with much more feminism imbued than on the outside, their were reds and pinks and even some blues here and their. The inside was modeled after styles he had seen elsewhere with, high walls a straight staircase a wide kitchen and relatively high ceilings. The composure of the living room was centered around an ornate fireplace that also served as the main cooking area as evidenced by the pots and pans hung around it. There were the usual scrolls and books normal for a living area, with what seems to him like an overuse of flowers. Not the flowers he enjoyed either the bright overly eccentric kind that gave the room a pleasing aroma but an un-pleasant brightness overall.

It was too… much color. He thought to himself. She was looking at him so he quickly lowered his eyes to his feet. Karasu asked "do you like it? My mother is the primary influence in the room I think it is really pretty with all the flowers and it smells wonderful does it not?" Marr simply nodded for if he were to tell her what he thought he assumed it would harm her emotionally if not physically. Marr knew if there was one thing in this world he never wanted to do, it was harm this girl in any way. She motioned for him to sit and said "make yourself comfortable I will go get my parents and tell them all about you." With that she turned and walked up the stairs, Marr watched her leave and looked at the couch and chairs, the looked comfortable, however he knew the reaction he was going to get so he chose not to sit, and remained standing. For a while he waited and then he heard footsteps coming across the upstairs hall and then on the stairs. Multiple sets of footsteps, he thought about three maybe four sets.

The first one he saw was Karasu she smiled at him and then introduced him "mom dad this is Marr the man who saved me." The father was next down the stairs he smiled wide and said "how nice to meet y" he stopped mid sentence when he saw him. The father then screamed "Dark One" and began forming seals, and drawing chakra to his mouth, Marr knew it was a fire style jutsu he was preparing albeit a low ranked one. He activated his Jikangan, and took his time to observe the hand seals at the slowed rate at which they were being formed, he decided to respond with an ice style jutsu his specialty, the father yelled, "Fire style flaming ogre justsu!"

Marr responded by forming four seals and saying "Water style Ice Wolf jutsu" the two jutsu collided and the flame ogre dissipated leaving Marr's ice wolf to lope over towards the father and attack him, it tackled him and was about to rip out his throat when Marr made a clicking noise on the side of his mouth, and the ice wolf walked back over to his side and curled around his feet. The father rose again and began forming more complicated seals, a bigger fire attack was coming, and the ice wolf around Marr's feet stood and crouched ready to pounce. Luckily before any other violence happened Karasu tackled her father and the mother was right behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Father what are you doing he is the one who saved me." Karasu screamed, her father pushed her and her mother off and yelled at her "look at his eyes they are the eyes of a Dark One, I will not have his filth in my house near my wife and certainly not my daughter."

"But he is the one that saved me, he at least deserves your respect and kindness for that right?" Karasu replied, " no my daughter better those men have their way with you than this monster, this, this soul eater have come anywhere near you." The father replied, taken aback by his statement Karasu said "you can't really mean that father what is a Dark One why is it so bad?" The father still in a fighting stance and still nearly foaming at the mouth replied "a Dark One is a human who has sold his soul to one of the many demons, and gains power from the trade and can only gain his original soul back if he eats and transfers thousands of other souls into the demon he has inhabiting the place where his soul used to be."

Karasu looked at Marr who was still standing arms folded not in the least bit worried it seemed, and asked "is that true?" Marr looked at her and nodded, and then inclined his head to all three of them and turned to leave. Karasu shouted "wait lets just talk for a while I am sure we can be civil." Marr turned back and nodded towards her. The father having none of it pushed his daughter out of the way, and began forming seals again. He shouted, "this time it wont be dissipated" then forming six seals he shouted, "Fire style Giant Fireball jutsu". Marr sighed with his Jikangan still active it appeared to him as if the man was moving at a snails pace. Marr formed three seals and snapped his fingers twice creating another three ice wolves. After the first activation he had no need to form the seals again.

He now had four freezing ice wolves prowling around his feet. They formed his vanguard and took the fireball dissipating it. He followed his defense with an attack by forming seven hand seals and saying "Water style Water Dragon jutsu" the liquid dragon rushed towards the father before he could form enough seals to react. He stopped forming seals and tried to run but Marr's water dragon followed him and was just about to impact him when Karasu yelled, "STOP." Marr snapped his fingers and his water dragon turned into mist, and flowed out the open window to rejoin the clouds. Her father visibly panting from the exertion of so much activity fell over and was unconscious for a while. Karasu looked at Marr and apologized for her father's behavior and helped her mother get him into a chair.

Her mother had not been introduced as yet and so Karasu said "Marr Kun this is my mother Aoi." With a sneer in her tone Aoi said "hello dark one thank you for saving my daughter now our business is concluded leave." "Mother" Karasu shouted, why are you so mean to him he has done nothing wrong other than protect himself from father. Aoi looked at her daughter and spoke "he is a soul eater he is the demons themselves he is dangerous he has no honor he must leave!" Karasu scowled at her mother and grabbed Marr's hand and led him up the stairs, she led him to what was obviously her room, all the while, her mother screaming "get him out of here" and told him "stay here I will cool them down."

She then turned heel and ran back down the stairs. Marr looked around her room it was clustered and unclean, here and their clothes were tossed, he even saw a few under cloth items which he found amusing. The structure of the room was akin to the rest of the house, albeit the flowers here were less obnoxious he even saw one he liked, a bachelors button which was of the deepest blue it was pretty he thought. He heard arguing downstairs and expected her parents would convince her to have him thrown out, which he was fine with at least he had gotten the opportunity to speak with someone at least for a while. He was lost in thought and so did not notice the little boy that entered the door on his right.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Hi the boy said to Marr" who turned quickly to face him and upon realizing that it was just a small boy relaxed. Marr nodded at him and then crouched to be on eye level with him. The small boy said, "my name is Hiro, it is nice to meet you, and why are your eyes like that?" Marr feeling comfortable around the boy and able to use his voice said, "my name is Marr and my eyes are like this because I am a dark one."

The boy seemed to ponder that statement for a second and then seemed to disregard it and asked "how old are you" to which Marr replied "I am 16 Hiro, how about you?" Hiro smiled and replied, "I am ten I was nine a couple days ago but now I am ten! Who are your parents?" Hiro then asked. Marr replied and said "they died when I was your age I mean when I was your age a couple days ago, when you were nine." Hiro thought for a moment and said, "Oh I am sorry Marr kun." Marr replied "it is no problem little man" and then smiled at him. Karasu appeared around the corner of the door and said "Hiro what are you doing out of bed its way past your bedtime?" Hiro replied "I heard shouting and it woke me up plus you don't order me around miss been a genin for two years." The boy smiled and ran for the door and down the hall to his room. Karasu looked back around to face Marr and was blushing a bit she said "I hate that little punk" then she sighed and told him he should come down and grabbed his hand and led him down the hall and then down the stairs. Where he found the two parents sitting with scowls that deepened when they laid eyes on him. She led him his hand in hers to the seat opposite of her parents and bid him to sit down. Which he did the couch was comfortable but the atmosphere in the room was not. It was silent a while when to break the silence Karasu said "Marr Kun I trust you have met my father his name is Masaru." Say hello dad she said in a lower tone."

Masaru said hello then the silence returned. Until once again Karasu broke it by asking about his fighting style specifically she asked "during the fight I saw your eyes glowing gold in the middle where the iris would be what was that? And how did you defeat my father so quickly and without moving an inch either?" Marr looked at her with a pained look on his face and motioned her closer when she was closer he whispered in her ear "my lady I can not speak in front of you parents it is a mental block I will explain later, if you would be so kind as to repeat what I say in your ear to them I will tell you or if you wish I would simply tell you. She looked at him and said "ok then why don't you just look at me when you talk and then raise your voice a little so they can hear?"

Marr looked at her intensely for a while then said stutteringly at first but with a stronger voice later, "alright my lady I can do that." All the while looking at her eyes and face he said "the ability that all shadow villagers have is simply easier for me, the golden iris you saw was Jikangan, you have it as well my lady however you most likely have not heard of it because it is a forbidden jutsu. Too many deaths have resulted from using it, and its effect is that it speeds up my perception of speed and time. So I was actually moving a lot it is just what you saw of my movement as a blur or not at all due to the speed I was moving at or rather the speed I perceived you and others moving at.

That is also how I was able to defeat your father so easily, with him moving at a 20 times slower pace than usual I was able to easily predict and counter his moves and attacks." She sat stunned for a while then asked her father "why don't I know about this?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Her father looked at her for a while and said, "this "thing" is right on one thing the Jikangan is an kekkei genkai inherent in all shadow land ninja. However as the "thing" stated it is forbidden due to the fact that the amount of chakra it consumes can kill even an experienced jonin in a matter of minutes of continued use."

Karasu said, "still I should have been aware, what if I would have accidently activated it and killed myself?" This time Marr answered and said "impossible no one here except for me has the chakra required for activation, as an example if your body does not have the energy to run, it is impossible to run, if you reach the level necessary to activate it, usually your body accidently does activate it, especially in times of stress, though you quickly run out of chakra and pass out for a while, at which point allied ninja are required to take you home to train you how to suppress it. Until this training is complete you may not leave the village. So I have heard at least"

"Father have you ever activated it?" Karasu asked. Her father responded no he had not; he did not have the chakra necessary as Marr had said. Karasu then asked "Marr kun how are you able to activate it if you are only 16 and not even a genin yet?" He replied, "because of my pact with Death and Agramon, all the souls I take and also my significant weakness leads me to have a superior amount of chakra compared to others." Karasu then inquired, "wait how powerful is your chakra anyways?" Marr replied "I have never met anyone who is my equal in raw power, even some lords are weaker than I."

Her father than said "please there is no way you outrank lords you are a liar, a monster, if you are so powerful prove it." Karasu looked angrily at her father and was about to shout at him when Marr reached across and grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. Then whispered to her "raise any chakra protection you have and cover your ears." She looked questioningly at him for a while the nodded and did as she was told. Marr looked at her father who sat there with a smug look on his face, Marr closed his eyes and raising his chakra level all at once he opened them and looked at her father hatefully. Karasu felt some type of oppressive pressure as if she was suddenly thousands of leagues under the sea. Her ears even popped a couple of times. She also felt a type of fear not a horror but more of a deep primal fear of a predator among the prey and she was the prey.

She opened her eyes and looked at Marr quickly who was not facing her and had his hand out as if to block her from some of the force, she then switched her view over to her parents and almost screamed. Her father was on the floor writhing and screaming as if he was having a seizure, her mother was bleeding from some of her pores and was wailing as well, her father who had been screaming fell silent and simply kept his mouth open as if he wanted too but lacked the voice and the ability to scream. Her mother had passed out and was slumped in a small pool of her own blood. Karasu was horrified she had to stop this, she grabbed Marr's outstretched hand and then pulled it back as if to stretch it past a point of comfort.

He felt it and turned to her and snarled, for a moment before his eyes returned to their normal black eyed human state and his nostrils ceased to flare and he closed his mouth and suddenly the pressure completely ceased. His eyes when he had snarled at her looked like someone else's slightly and his teeth "dear lord his teeth" she thought. His canines had grown long and needle like and his bottom canines had grown wider and sharper as well, but were not as long or as sharp as his; she dare not call them teeth, they were fangs, the fangs of an animal. After the pressure ceased she looked around the room her mother was getting back up and her father was stirring slightly. Her voice hoarse with a healthy amount of fear in her voice as well, she asked "Marr Kun where did you get such power and how?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Karasu's father who had just barely returned to his seat in a quiet and ragged voice asked "how?" Karasu had asked Marr the same question to which she now added "and how did you move faster if your perception of time simply sped up would that not mean you would also slow down along with it because your perception includes yourself right?"

Marr sighed "I thought we had already gone over this he thought" "yes my lady that is true, except that my eyes keep me out of perceiving myself as slow as other outside perceptions and that's not all my eyes do they also increase my speed by the amount of speed I take out of my outside perception. For instance if I were to speed up my perception by 20% right now you would move 20% slower in my eyes. At the same time however I would have a speed increase of 20% ergo the speed at which I perceive things around me. Meaning I would be moving 40% faster than anything I perceive. As for the ability and power I have, to be able to activate Jikangan among other things as well. It is a long sad story and one that I would not wish to tell to someone so innocent."

Karasu absorbed all the things he had said and marveled how the entire time he had spoken he had only spoken to her. She thought a moment amazed at the possibilities the Jikangan had, then asked, "Please tell me your story Marr." With a pained look on his face he tried to protest again yet he saw he would get nowhere, trying to argue. So with a large sigh he began " for most of my young life I lived in a happy house on Mount Toukan. Surrounded by a mother and a father and one brother, it was a quiet life outside of the jurisdiction of the shadow village; in fact I had not been to the village at all until a few years ago. We lived self sufficiently without the rules of the village but also without its protection.

It was often a hard life but overall it was a great one, I miss it so much. We lived on a flat plateau like part of the mountain in a circle of trees my father had cut down; it hid us from most of the world. I felt like nothing could touch us, my father was a retired ninja who had only reached the rank of chunin having no family connections he did not have the money or skill to advance farther. So he married my mother and went and built a life outside the village. He was however a famed scroll calligrapher, he would write and imbue them with chakra making them dangerous weapons of war. He was also one of the only ones near the village who was able to sign contracts with animals for them to become summon-able creatures; most summon-able beasts in this village are his work.

He only wished he had more power to build better homes for them, for part of the contract with animals for them to serve forever to future generations of ninja was to literally create a habitat for them to live in, which for tigers and other big cats favored here in the village is quite difficult. The ability he held was enough to buy supplies for the harsh winters, which are much harsher up on the mountain. Hence its name, however on one such winter the winter of my tenth birthday, my comfortable and happy life abruptly ended." Here Marr took a deep breath and looked at Karasu again begging her with his eyes to let him stop.

Karasu saw his trepidation but, thought "if he gets it out it wont hurt so bad plus it can not be that bad." So she urged him to go on. Her parents were now fully recovered but still in a state of moderate pain, especially her mother who had gotten up to eat and drink something, and was recovering quickly, despite their injuries from Marr's chakra pressure they were listening intently. Mar swallowed once and then again and said "on my tenth winter, my mother my father and my brother were all killed." Here Marr hid his face from Karasu, but she could hear him lightly sobbing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Karasu was in a state of shock, Marr had just said his whole family had been killed, and he was crying, she had thought him much to tough to be the type that would ever shed a tear. Though she supposed that losing her whole family would be grounds enough to be sad for a time.

He quickly stopped and she saw him move his arm in a wiping motion, after he had sufficiently wiped his face Marr turned around again and she almost gasped again, his tears had not been… normal, he was crying blood their was the smell of it, the smell of iron in the room and their were red streaks on his cheeks where it had poured. He apologized and snapped his fingers and a mini water dragon appeared on his pointer finger he whispered to it and it wound around his face and cheeks and quickly removed the worse of the bloodstains. Then dissipated, he then said "well my lady I assume I must tell you the rest of the story now for there is a reason I cry tears of blood as well."

He looked over at her parents and even they looked slightly sad for him the mother more so than the father. He began again with a weak voice at first "on my tenth winter my father had gone into town to sell scrolls for supplies he returned hours later with a bag full of supplies it was around 4:00 pm when he returned on the mountain that means there is still enough light to see he had left extra early you see. Anyway he returned and everything was fine however unbeknownst to him their was a band of marauders, or bandits in the village that day, they had seen the amount of money his scrolls went for. They had tracked him back to our house through the trees at six we heard a knock at the door, the leader of the bandits, had acted like he was a traveling ninja and was in the market for war time scrolls.

My father and my mother were ecstatic; a ninja had more money than the usual price my father would get from the village. He came in and my father showed him the room where the scrolls were and bid him to look through them. While he perused the scrolls my younger brother who was seven this winter watched in awe hoping he would do some justu or other. I watched intently as well you see we both wanted to be ninja and we were hoping he would teach us some things. After a while of looking he took most of them and put them in a basket, which had been laid out for him by my father. He walked out and asked my father how much it would be including the basket. My father replied with what was a very reasonable price. The "man" thought about it a while and then said "I have a better idea how about you give them to me for free?"

My father was taken aback, and immediately said no, and that the price would be what he mentioned. The "man" whistled loudly and all the sudden I was grabbed and thrown outside into the snow I heard my brother yelp and my mother scream. I heard my father attempt to fight back but three men grabbed him and threw him out as well. I sat up and they bound me with ropes that were so tight, my arms began to fall asleep immediately." Once again Marr stopped with another pained look on his face he begged Karasu to let him stop, yet she was adamant and wanted to help him get it out. So she nodded to go ahead, Marr now visibly shaking began again even quieter than before everyone in the room leaned closer to hear him. "I looked around and saw my brother and father next to me bound and gagged as I was, yet for some reason they had not blindfolded us.

"I wish they had", I looked around again and could not find my mother my father was looking straight ahead and so I did as well in the center of a circle of 10 or 12 men, laid my mother bound and gaged like we were. The leader shouted "well boys its cold up here we need some warmth" The rest of the men snickered and the leader tore of my mothers clothes and told the other men to make camp and build a fire it would be a long night." Not able to stop himself now Marr began to cry tears of blood again and Karasu drew him into her embrace and held him tightly and told him to keep going and not hold it in any longer.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Now with ragged breaths and pauses in his words he attempted to begin again barley able to be heard by any but Karasu who had him in her arms, she felt his body shaking and in obvious torment, but could not help noticing the powerful muscle he had beneath his clothes as well. Marr still shuttering like a tree in a hurricane, began again with a slightly louder voice.

"The rest of the night the men made us watch as they raped my mother again and again, my father was able to cover my brothers eyes bye leaning up against him, however he was too far to cover mine, so we both sat and watched after the sixth or seventh time my mother became unconscious, and I had stopped crying, my father had not shed a tear the entire time he was strong for my mother I wish I could have been. After they were all done, they threw her toward the camp they had made just in case someone else wanted another turn. They then slept and waited till morning, I and my father could not sleep my brother did eventually after the long night was over, the men woke up and grabbed my mother and slit her throat, they made us all watch as she bled death."

At this point Marr had returned to his original position and had the water dragon clean his face once again, he then continued, " the leader then had his men take my dad away from me and my brother and they made us watch once again as they slit his throat as well. We both watched beyond tears at this point more in a state of shock than anything. After my father had breathed his last breath. The leader then asked his men what he should do with my brother and I, most men told him to kill both of us, some said it would be better to have one of us watch the other die, the leader liked this idea better and asked which should watch the other die. The men decided to flip a coin heads it would be me who would die tails it would be my brother.

That was the longest moment in my whole life watching that coin flip hoping it would land on heads so my brother would live. As I am sure you can see it landed on tails, they took my brother who was still stunned and bled him like they had my mother and father." Here Marr stopped briefly and looked around the room Karasu was crying and looking at him with a sad expression on her face. He father was wide eyed and had a tear forming on his eye as well, her mother like Karasu was crying as well. He began again with a stronger voice seemingly gaining strength from their honest sadness for him "afterwards the leader came up to me and asked me questions I can not remember I could only stare at my mother and father and brother laying like animals in the snow.

After a while he realized I was dead to the world and would be dead soon anyways from the cold, and hunger he told his men to pack up and they left with all the scrolls in the house along with other valuables. One of the men suggested burning the house but the leader said the smoke would attract men from the village and they did not need ninja coming down on them now. So they left, one man before leaving came up to me and said he was sorry, and untied my ropes and gag, I later found out it was a woman who had untied me. After an hour had passed I got the courage and strength to stand up and walk over to the bodies of my family. I looked down upon them for a while and then decided if I could not bury them, for you see I was much to weak to dig three holes, if I could not bury them I would arrange them so they were not like animals in the dust.

So I did and I crossed their arms and closed their eyes and sat next to them in the snow, just watching and waiting for the cold to kill me. I was determined to die. A day must have gone by and yet I was still not dead, I was wondering why when off to my left I heard, a snarl and then a howl, I did not look for I had no need to I knew the wolves of the mountain were ferocious and would kill me as soon as I was seen as unthreatening so I waited for one to pounce. An hour or so later still sitting in the snow a great black furred wolf walked up in front of me and snarled and growled at me, when I made no move to run or to fight back or to even acknowledge his presence the wolf simply licked my face and laid its head in my lap.

Perhaps feeling my sadness it wanted to comfort me. It howled right next to my head and its pack came loping out of the woods, they all sniffed me as well and then did likewise as the alpha had done they curled around me and laid to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Marr stopped speaking for a while and asked Karasu for a glass of water for he had been speaking for a couple of hours already. She got up and went to the kitchen to oblige him, while she was gone; her father asked, "is this all true boy?"

When Marr nodded the father said "maybe I misjudged you if you would like you can stay here with us for the night." The mother was visibly shocked but after thinking a while, also said the same, and added "and if you ever need somewhere come to us alright"? Marr nodded and smiled a half smile at both of them. Karasu returned and gave Marr the cup of water; he drank it in one swig. Then took a breath in and let it out he then continued. "As the wolves were falling asleep around me and were warming me I thought that god must have created these animals for they came in my time of need as no other creature would ever do, as I was thinking this the alpha female I could tell by her size and the way she carried herself. Came into my field of vision.

She pushed the alpha males head of my lap and laid her whole body on my lap and curled around me giving me a fur coat of sorts I laughed a bit because of the shock on the alpha males face, then he put his head on top of hers and I suddenly had six new friends. The alpha female was beautiful she had pure white fur as white as the snow a complete contrast to the male who had fur as dark as the night. The other four had mixed furs one was brown another was greyish white, the other was pure grey, and the last was grayish black with the oddest brown spot on his for-head. I began to pet all of them in turns concentrating on the alphas and inside myself I felt a sense of peace I had not felt for what seemed like years.

Losing more and more energy I waited still to die, two days passed like this, the alpha would send one of the males to go get food for the rest they would eat and then return to my side. The snow was sufficient water for them and they gave me a calm sense of mind while I waited for death. Marr stopped again and asked, "Would you like to see them my lady? I was going to save them for later after I had explained how I acquired their signature to become summon-able creatures, but that is a long way down the road and it would be easier for me to tell this story if I had them by my side." Karasu immediately said yes and both her parents wanted to see them as well. Marr stood and performed five hand seals and said lightly "Summoning Jutsu."

Two puffs of smoke appeared in the room and after the smoke ceased and disappeared, Karasu beheld two giant wolves almost as big as she was, one wolf was white and slightly smaller than the other which was black as the night, as they had been in Marr's tale. The black one turned towards Marr and said "Marr Kun what is it that you need of us is your life in danger? Where is the enemy?" he then quickly looked around for potential enemies. The white one then turned to the black one and said, "You moron he is not in any danger he just needs our support emotionally so I would assume am I right Marr Kun?" Marr looked at the white one and said "yes Snow-Fur I am retelling the tale for people who want to hear it and I need you to help me through it."

He then looked at the black one and said "Night-Fang there is no danger I apologize for summoning you without a need for battle." Night-Fang looked up at Marr and smiled a wolfish grin and then looked at Karasu and smiled even wider, night-fang then said, "Oh I get it, you their girl you wanted him to summon us huh?" Karasu nodded still a little stunned it was talking to her at all. Night-fang then said "well lets get on with it then I am surprised at you Marr kun I would have thought you would never have found a female and yet you did, and she is not lacking I am sure." He smiled at Marr kun the widest yet and loped over to Karasus side, and sat in front of her and turned his head to face her and said "well girl get on with it start petting me and make sure you scratch behind my ears every once in a while, loving my boy comes with some responsibilities and duties namely petting me which surprisingly still has not happened as of yet."

Karasu blushed and began petting Night-Fang, the whole conversation was looked upon by Marr with an air of humor, but Snow-fur was obviously not pleased she loudly barked at night-fang, "you moron have you know sense of atmosphere what if the girl did not want that known? Or, what if you are wrong it would not be the first time. You are always so blatant and blunt learn some human manners; god knows Marr has tried teaching them to you and what do you do? You embarrass the poor girl, Night-fang replied "oh nag, nag, nag, woman Marr is smart enough to know and plus she couldn't stand the trial anyways." Here Marr stepped in and said "ok that's enough you two." With that Snow-fur loped over to Marr's side so he could begin petting her, and Marr prepared to continue.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Before Marr could continue, night-fang chimed in again and asked "Marr you are not planning on telling them of the deal are you? Marr nodded to him and night-fang responded with a sigh and a low growl, and turned his eyes to the people in the room except for Karasu who was still dutifully petting him.

His eyes fell upon Karasu's mother and he growled and then turned his eyes towards her father. He looked at him for a long while with his moonlit yellow eyes. Then as if making his decision he sighed once more and said "fine I sense no more danger from these people, other than the man over there but we could easily overpower him if need be Marr." Snow-fur snorted her agreement, Marr quickly stepped in and said "no need my friend he already knows I am a dark one we have already had that particular "argument" we have settled things." Night-fang nodded at Marr then added "by the way Marr I like this one she smells nice and knows how to pet a wolf of my nobleness." As he said it he looked at Karasu who once again blushed. Snow-fur sighed and shook her head at night-fang again, for what seems the umpteenth time.

Marr climbed down of the couch he was on in favor of sitting on the floor and leaning against snow-fur, who began to hum to him softly, crossing his arms and with his eyes closed, obviously more comfortable than before, Marr began again, "a couple days passed like that, me waiting for death which at the time was unfortunately slowed by night-fang and snow-fur here." Playfully he elbowed snow-fur and then continued "after about four days of me sitting their there was a commotion among the trees night-fang noticed it first, his head suddenly popped up from its resting position and he began a low growl which was soon chorused by all the wolves around me. I looked up finally after a minute of this to see what it was, the first thing I remember is how cold I was suddenly, ice cold as if I had been warmed and then chilled again.

The next thing I remember were the birds, swarms of birds were flying away from the tree line as if running, some of them started to drop from the sky as if; they had been killed by an unseen arrow. I could not understand it whatever it was it got closer the next thing I remember is, the trees were turning black as if they had been burnt but I saw no fire." Here night-fang began a low growl as if remembering the night. Marr continued, "then I saw him through a open patch of trees that had been suddenly vacated by the death of their sister trees, I saw a hand big as yours or mine but somehow different it was too far for me to tell. Then I saw the man he was dressed completely in a black cloak I could not see any face at all just blackness, he came closer and closer soon he was within site, by this time the wolves had retreated to the trees following their instincts.

My own instincts were screaming at me to run; yet I could not and did not care to run. He reached me and stood their for a while not talking, his hands and cloak flowing oddly as if he had been sunk in a lake, his clothes moved as if they were water. I noticed what was wrong with his hands they had no flesh or veins they were just skeleton hands, joints and bones and all, one of these hands if you can call them pointed at me, and I heard a cold as steel and raspy voice say "boy you have been chosen by Agramon, he wishes to sign a contract with you, I looked up to try to see his face but their was nothing just blackness. I had no idea where I found my voice but I did and I asked what sort of deal?" Marr paused again and opened his eyes that had been closed and he looked around, Karasu noticed they were not his usual eyes there was something different.

He closed them and started once more. "The thing told me it was a personification of death, and was here to either take me or to have me sign a deal. The deal was at first too much for me to bear, the deal involved selling my soul to Agramon, who would then inhabit the hole where my soul had been, death told me that I would not have my soul returned too me until I had met the terms of Agramon's contract, which was quite a number of souls, I will not tell you how many for death told me this is a secret to be guarded. He also said that Agramon could not stand the sun and so I would never be able to walk in daylight unguarded again.

He also mentioned that containing Agramon in his self induced cage would be hell every day and took more willpower than most men could ever hope to obtain along with a huge amount of chakra. To which I replied, "if that is true will I not just simply die the next morning?" That is when death told me that the contract was not all negative. He told me that I would gain a power rarely unseen in this day, a power stronger than some Jinchuriki could control, he said my chakra would increase 10,000 fold and more, that I would be in form and function a tailed beast. Yet he warned if Agramon ever was able to find a weakness and escape his self-imposed cage then he would destroy me and my soul would never reach heaven or hell but would simply wander forever alone and cold.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Everyone in the room sat silent for a while, Marr with his eyes closed and leaning against snow-fur, almost looked asleep, yet he was listening intently for the slightest sign of aggression, for he knew that some when they heard of the power he commanded wanted it for themselves.

It was Karasu who spoke first saying "if you become so powerful why are their not many more dark one's around?" It made sense such power was a temptation few would be able to resist. Marr thought a while then said "well for one death and one of his demons has to choose you, one can not simply wish to be a dark one and, by effort of his will become one. Also death chose me because I was nearly dead and I had nothing left to lose, after talking with Agramon at length he informed me that many do not wish to lose their souls, as well as the fact that the amount of willpower it takes to control and hold him down is not shared by many in the world. Yet since I had nothing to lose I had the most willpower at that point in the village and maybe even the world."

Marr paused again and asked directly "would any of you give up your soul and only have it returned to you if you stole others souls and sent them to purgatory with your soul, should you fail?" No one in the room could meet his gaze. "I thought not" Marr sat up and was now just resting his back on snow-fur no longer his head. He began "this is where the story gets fun." He said that last sentence with an evil look on his face that was reflected in his eyes. "I wanted revenge for what they had done, the bandits what they had done to my family so fool-hardily I agreed to Agramon's deal, and death opened his satchel which was hidden behind his cloak, and pushed his hand inside my stomach, it was the worse pain I have ever felt, he ripped my soul from my body, and I died."

Here Marr stopped, smiled a bit at the rooms atmosphere, and then said "look I am not undead I didn't say I died forever, I just died when my soul left and was reincarnated when Agramon wiggled his way in, apparently it was an unenjoyably experience for both of us. The first thing I remember when I awoke was the smells they were stronger than normal stronger than I had ever remembered, trees in the distance flowers on a hill not far from our house and the smell of dried blood. The next thing I remember was the sound, my ears which had been ringing suddenly stopped and then a torrent of sound assaulted them, wind blowing, water lapping on the shore, snow gales storming, voices in the distance I could hear everything as if it was being shouted in my ears.

In reflex I screamed and then covered my ears, slowly I uncovered them after being crunched in a ball for a few minutes; I quickly learned how to control the heightened senses I had been given. I expect I learned so quickly because Agramon had been living with these senses his whole life and subconsciously told my brain how to control them. Then I opened my eyes" Marr stopped once again and sighed, as if wishing for the moment again. He began again "it was as if my head had been covered by a thick wool blanket my entire life, my eyes, dear god my eyes, I could view the trees far in the distance as if they were right against my face. I could see the movement of rabbits among the trees no matter how quickly and quietly they tried to move.

The colors I could observe had broadened I was now able to distinguish between different parts of the snow and different depths of water, when I went to look at the lake, just by the darkness of the water, Agramon quickly reigned that in as well because my depth perception had been altered due to my enhanced vision. It was hard walking around when it looked as if I was face close to the dirt. After I had walked around and gotten used to my senses much like when you move your fingers inside a new glove to get used to it. I heard in my head a buzzing, which I ignored" at this point Marr smiled a half smile and went back into the story "you must understand I was like a kid in a candy store I felt more powerful then ever before in my life, I tried jumping and rose at least ten feet in the air with no chakra aid at all.

I ran to the lake and back and moved so fast that the tress looked as if they were being blurred. I tried a simple fire jutsu my father had taught me to test how much chakra I had. This jutsu used to make me quite tired when I used, it. It was "fire style flame wheel" and when activated it was supposed to send out circle of fire that would expand and attack a wide area. Anyway I formed the seals required, and felt a minimal draw on my chakra and then let it loose. Luckily I was aiming at the lake because what came out was a ring of fire that must have been hundreds of yards long and was so hot that it started to evaporate the lake and melted the rocks around the lakebed." Marr stopped and thought for a while, then continued "this was the first time I became afraid of my power, and when I began to listen to Agramon as well.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Marr paused as if thinking "I told you guys about the buzzing right?" Karasu nodded remembering him saying he had ignored it. Marr nodded back, and began again still completely focused on Karasu when his eyes were open at all.

"Well after the fire justsu I became dead silent and stopped jumping around like a lunatic, in fact I was afraid to move at all. This is when I was introduced to Agramon he called me a couple of names, which I shall not repeat, then introduced himself. He then said that I should learn restraint for the amount of chakra I unleash would possibly draw ninja from the village and Agramon said having a lot of power without knowing how to use it would get me killed. I was silent as he told me first the jutsu that I must constantly maintain in the sunlight, I asked why I had not been affected yet for it was daytime outside, Agramon said he had been protecting me but he would do it no longer, I activated it, and immediately felt the huge chakra drain it had on me, a drain that in my old life would have killed me five times over.

Agramon then said, "are you hungry" at first I wanted to say no but as I formed the words, I realized that I was starving. I was hungrier than I had been in my entire previous life." Marr paused and looked away from Karasu as if ashamed, he continued, "Agramon told me what I was hungry for at first I thought he was lying, but as I tried to eat normal things left over in my house, they would not fulfill me. So I told myself that I would wait for my first feast, and that I would enjoy it." He was stopped by Karasu who asked, "What did Agramon tell you you were hungry for?" Marr looked away again ashamed for the second time. He said "my lady I would wish to not tell you for it is not a natural thing." Karasu forged ahead and told him there would be no secrets and asked again what it was.

Marr sighed and looked at her and opened his mouth, Karasu gasped what she had seen earlier was not a trick of her eyes, inside Marr's mouth his canines grew long and needle sharp. With his canines in this state he said "my lady what I craved then, and now, and forever more is blood. I can not eat normal foods they are sickening, and animal blood and meat is revolting to me, the only blood I crave is human." Marr bid his teeth return to normal length, and yet Karasu noticed they were still a little sharper than any she had seen before. Marr continued "that is also why I cry blood for I have no water in me at all I have liquid, but no water. Hence I could not cry it."

He stopped again and looked at Karasu's parents, who were shocked, but, did not seem disgusted and held no hate in their eyes. He felt safe and so started again "after I had learned how to move correctly and was adjusted to my new senses and power I buried my family which was easy because of my sudden increase in speed and strength. After I had prayed for their safety in paradise I decided now was when I wanted my drink and I wanted a lot of it. Agramon told me of a different sight my eyes could switch too; he called it hunter's sight, and told me how to do it. When my eyes switched over the world became all gray and white, but anything in my sight that was warm glowed bright red and orange.

As I got closer to my wolves who, had returned to my side I saw these colors I could even see their blood flowing through their bodies. I could hear their heartbeat. Yet my stomach turned thinking of their blood and I knew I needed human blood." Night-fang interjected here and said "Marr kun was strange when we returned he had a more oppressive presence yet we sensed no danger so we still wanted to be around him." Marr nodded and said "yes I told them to stay, which I did not even know would work, and asked Agramon how to find the bandits, he asked me in response "which direction did they leave in" I pointed up the mountain, and he said "start walking in that direction you will be able to sense them before too long." I trusted him and began running for I was starving and in a hurry for revenge.

Eventually after a half hour of running which surprisingly did not tire me at all, I heard and smelled them and then a minute or so later was able to see their body heat. The fools they had barely tried to escape the scene at all and they were all laughing and having a grand old time. I was in such a state of rage that I tuned out everything except the need to feed and kill. I hated them for what they had done I will not soil your ears my lady by telling you what I did to them." But Marr remembered what he had done. Rashly he had jumped in the center of their camp the men at first did not recognize him, before they could react he had one down and ripped out his throat and drank deeply. He felt reenergized as he had not felt in days right after the drink.

He went for another and began ripping out their throats, and tearing them in half, from head to toe he would rip them sinew, bone, flesh, skin, and all. By this time the men were frightened and were screaming things like "god save us" and "it's the devil," and then began to rally around their leader who told them to attack, Marr remembered being hit by kunai and stabbed with katana and burned by fire jutsu, but he simply ignored it and with a half crazed smile showing his fangs walked slowly towards them. Nine lay dead now six of who had just recently lost their throats, the other three in multiple pieces around the campsite.

With three left the leader pushed two towards Marr and ran like the coward he was Marr jumped on the one to his right who had thrown a paper bomb at him, which had halted him for a bit but after drinking deeply from him his body the wounds he had sustained from the bomb healed completely. He looked at the other who had witnessed all the carnage the figure simply kneeled and begged him not to kill her for it was a woman the same woman who had untied him and apologized for her groups behavior. He nodded and left to go find the leader whom he had special plans for.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Marr who had been brooding and secretly relishing his memories of that bloody night, looked up. Karasu was obviously tired and was nodding off and starting awake again her mother and father had already fallen asleep. Marr decided that was enough of the story for tonight he would finish in the morning the rest was not as exciting as the previous parts but it was important.

Marr got up fully from the floor and said, "my lady you should get some sleep, and your parents should retire as well." At first Karasu said she wanted to hear the rest but Marr insisted and so with a yawn she headed for bed but before she could move to far, night-fang moved in front of her and growled "look missy you cant just retire without giving me a goodnight hug." Marr saw he was wagging his tail obviously getting a kick out of toying with her. Karasu blushed again and bent over and gave night-fang a bear hug then said goodnight to Marr and retreated upstairs. Marr looked at night-fang with a half smile and spoke "nice move their buddy" night fang winked and then waited for Marr to release him. Marr turned and thanked snow-fur; he had been able to get through most of the story. He walked over to night-fang and gave him a scratch on his ear where he could not reach, and then said "alright guys see you later."

Two clouds of smoke and then they were gone. Marr then quickly transported both of Karasu's parents to their beds, in one trip still partially amazed by his in-human strength. After he laid them to their sleep he went back downstairs, to sit in front of their house and guard it, while he was present no harm would even come near Karasu, for he had no need to sleep, another "bonus" of his pact. His thoughts eventually returned to that bloody night. He had chased the leader for a few minutes but using all of his speed he quickly caught up to him. He came up from behind him and grabbed his collar and drug him down to the dirt. He turned the leader to face him, and said, "Do you remember me?" He nodded and said "aye the boy from the scroll house, look my lord I didn't mean it I had to keep the fear among my men otherwise they would kill me for my status."

Marr shook his head and stated, "too bad you don't have actual power then you would not have to instill fear. You fear me now do you not?" He nodded. "See what I mean?" Marr considered what to do for a while he finally settled on burning him alive slowly looking back it was not a good enough punishment for what he had done but he was young and it was all he could think of. Marr broke both of his legs and then his arms, and then he activated his fathers fire justu but used a lot less chakra. What came out was an extremely hot and dense ring that burned the leader ever so slowly, until finally he died, after screaming and cursing Marr's name and later begging for an end. The bastard, murderer, and rapist, died and Marr felt empty he had nothing now but to keep living.

He pondered this long in to the night until finally the sun rose, Marr activated his shield jutsu to be protected from the sun, and decided to wait for them to wake. A good few hours after sunrise, Marr heard movement upstairs, it was Karasu judging by the weight of the footsteps. Last night had gone on longer than he excepted he had woven his tale for hours it was three in the morning before anyone had gotten any sleep, it was now approximately an hour or so before noon. He heard the footsteps come down the steps and then Karasu came into view she had bathed and changed to a white shirt, and blue pants, her hair smelled like blackberries in the sun, and her skin smelled like vanilla flowers in the valley.

Marr was hungry and had trouble controlling his urge to tear her throat out and drink her life away. He resisted though, she sat next to him with her mouth on her knees, hiding all but her eyes, after a while she said, "tell me the end, of your story my parents will be asleep a while." Marr looked at her and nodded. "After I killed the men I went back to their camp and looted all their money and also took my fathers scrolls back. As I was about to leave, the woman I had spared called out to me. "I left one of them alive you see." Karasu nodded. Marr continued "anyway she said that she was sorry for what they had done, she said that she could never repay me for sparing her and that she knew how dangerous my life would be from now on, for the shadow village hates dark ones even though the pact was created way back in its founding, it was uncontrollable and so they hate us now and try to kill us at every opportunity.

She said that she knew she would die soon she had a lung disease that would kill her in a year or two, she said that was why she had joined for a last minute thrill. She was truly sorry and in penance said she would teach me what she knew until she died. That was the only thing she could think of." Marr paused then continued, "for the next two years until I was twelve she trained me in how to live by myself, and how to fight, she taught me to be a ninja. Yet her tutelage focused on strategic analysis of fighting and how to best use my chakra and the terminology of things, for I outranked her in fighting ability just with my power and speed and I mastered any justu she ever taught for, most were low class d or c level justsu easy for one with my power.

After my twelfth winter she died and I buried her next to my family. As I had come to love her like family, for the next two years I lived on my own, feeding on bandits and thugs from the village, who would hide in my woods. After my fourteenth winter I figured out how to make a pact with the wolves of the mountain, to become summon-able creatures. Night-fang was the one who marked his agreement to the contract, actually. I had developed a deep bond with him and his female snow-fur." Marr stopped and then laughed and then said "you have no idea how hard it was to get a wolf to sign an agreement. I had to give him chakra that told him my intention which he barley understood, but anyway I signed it as well and then using my power and a couple earth style jutsu I made twenty or so caves perfect for their habitation, and increased the amount of the deer on the mountain to sustain them.

It is still there I would like to show it to you some day. After I was done I had never been so tired, and when I awoke, Night-fang and the rest could talk and told me their names. Here I am two years later, saving you from certain peril. Karasu digested all of it in her mind and then asked "do you want to join me at Ninjutsu School today?"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Marr sat with an open-jaw looking at her with shock and surprise in his eyes. She asked "what, with an all too innocent look on her face. Marr still slightly shocked said, "in the past four years the village has attempted to kill me over 60 times, they would not let me simply walk into a school filled with children.

Karasu asked, "have you ever been accused of anything?" Marr replied no. She then asked "have you ever hurt anyone from the village that did not already have a warrant on their heads?" Marr said no. "Then they have no legal reason to keep you out plus I think with you helping me, I would be able to pass the chunin trials." Marr saw in her face that she would not be swayed, and feeling like a sheep lead to the slaughter for the second time this week he said "fine." Karasu jumped up and said, "good I will go get ready." Marr watched her leave for her room then looked at the clock it was now 11:30 as it was now Saturday he reasoned the school was scheduled later than normal. He knew the students would most likely not know him but the teachers would know what he was and would cause no end of commotion he was sure.

He sighed and waited for Karasu. After about fifteen minutes she came back down, and pushed him forward, being agile Marr was able to spin of his palms and regain his feet, "alright slowpoke lets go," she said. Marr noticed she had changed into the normal armor of the village blackish gray and guarding all vital areas for battle. He looked at his own jonin armor all gray and covering all vital areas along with arms legs and shins. He would draw attention like this, it had not been his he had taken it from a rouge jonin, that happened to be his approximate size. Lucky for him he thought. As they were walking towards the school, Marr kept his eyes down avoiding eye contact to avoid a panic. Karasu was humming softly not a care in the world, they reached the schoolhouse, Marr knew it well, he had walked by it many times. Karasu turned to him and asked "ready?"

Marr sighed and nodded, they walked the path to the front door and opened it then walked through the building until they reached a door marked six. "This is my classroom she said, they are a bit younger than me because I failed the trials." Here she blushed and entered pulling Marr with her she chose a seat in the back for Marr's sake to avoid being the center of attention. Though no matter what she tried the students already were whispering, Marr could hear it all it mostly concerned him they were curios but thankfully not afraid. Karasu saw him fidgeting and drew closer to him across the bench and wrapped her arm around his left arm and leaned her head on his shoulder this shocked him until he saw another girl approaching. At first he tensed ready for an attack Karasu, whispered, "don't worry."

The girl came up to them in front of their desk and said "hello Karasu" with a sneer. Karasu replied hello "Ayame" with the same sneer. Ayame turned to Marr and asked, "what is your name handsome?" then winked at him. Marr turned to Karasu and Karasu replied, "his name is Marr and I don't think he wants to talk to you." Ayame turned and whispered under her breath "we shall see." Marr asked, "who was that?" Karasu replied "the only other girl that failed last year, she's a slut though don't go near her." Marr nodded, the entire, class had heard his name, and were now ablaze talking about who he was, why he was here, and most of all if he and Karasu were together. Marr simply waited, for the teacher to appear, at 12:10 the teacher walked in and put his materials on the desk he looked up and saw Marr, who had his head down still, he said "it looks like we have a new student why don't you come to the front of the class and introduce yourself, also we are pretty far in the semester in fact the trials are a week away.

So I will need to see you perform simple tests that we have done up to this point. Marr whispered in Karasu ear, she then repeated "sir his name is Marr and he does not talk, to anyone but me. I will repeat what he says though." The teacher thought that was odd but said all right he told him to come up to the front. So Marr did when he reached the teacher he looked up. The teacher drew back and shouted dark one, and then immediately drew a kunai and slashed downward, Marr expecting this grabbed his arm by the elbow and twisted making the teacher twist in the air and fall to the ground. The students were shocked they had barley seen either of them move it was over so fast. Karasu ran up and put herself in front of Marr and said "sir he has no warrant and is not wanted in other lands he has harmed no one without a warrant on their heads. You have to teach him by the laws set down by the Shogun."

The teacher regained his feet and still with kunai in hand and with gritted teeth nodded and said, "I assume this thing understands human speech?" Karasu replied yes. She then walked back to her seat. The students were amazed and were asking questions amongst themselves, mainly what a dark one was. The teacher dusting himself off said, "fine then you want to be tested fine, first test is chakra control I want you to walk on the wall here and hang from the ceiling and not fall for three minutes." The students were shocked they had had to simply show different chakra levels by increasing and decreasing their chakra. Marr nodded and walked straight up the wall and hung from the ceiling, folding his arms the entire time.

He hung for three minutes to the astonishment of the students and then dropped down. The teacher said "fine you passed the first, next I want you to dodge all of my attacks not block dodge, ready?" Marr nodded and activated his Jikangan; the teacher began furiously attacking him, yet Marr arms still folded dodged each attack with ease. After five minutes of this, the teacher stopped and said, "fine you passed the second test. Follow me outside for the last two," Marr followed him and the rest of the class did as well. When they got to the practice grounds outside of the school he began again "now show us your most powerful jutsu." The kids were shocked again first the sparring with no blocking then this they had simply created illusion clones. They knew almost nothing else. Marr shook his head and went over to Karasu, who said, "Marr says that his most powerful would kill everyone in a mile radius.

He will perform a B ranked justu is that satisfactory?" The teacher sniffed and then nodded. Marr walked back to the center of the field and aimed at the rocks in the distance, he then formed eight seals and said "Water style" he then moved his hands away from each other as if drawing something sticky between his hands, "glacial hailstorm." A thousand icicles appeared all around the rock he was aiming at, he moved his right hand forward and rapidly closed his fist, the icicles smashed into the rock piercing right through it, when the dust cleared the rock had been demolished and the icicles were laying still unbroken on the ground.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Now even the instructor of the class was slightly impressed, he still hated the thing standing in front of him, but that jutsu had been powerful enough to break through a boulder that was supposed to unbreakable and the amount of chakra he felt emanating from the attack was insane, beyond any he had ever felt.

The students were talking non-stop now they were amazed as well the jutsu looked way to powerful for any of them to ever hope to achieve, yet it was possible. Marr had just simply put tons of chakra into the ice so they would not break. The instructor said, "Ok so you passed the third test. Now your final test is to defeat me in battle full sparring rules, all attacks and jutsu are allowed." The students gasped loudly their instructor was a jonin and had been one for years their was no way this random person could defeat a jonin. The instructor said "ready?" Marr nodded. Karasu wanted to jump in but she was also curios to see how powerful Marr was. So she sat back and watched. The students gave them room and Marr not wanting to cause damage to Karasu, activated his Jikangan, the instructor charged Marr, he was moving much faster than he had been.

Marr assumed it was his top speed, Marr increased the level of his Jikangan the instructor was now moving 50% slower than usual. Marr waited, the instructor got closer and closer, he was right on top of Marr when he reared his fist back to punch Marr with all his chakra behind the fist. Marr waited and when he lifted his fist he ducked under the instructors arm and punched hard dislocating the shoulder, then he spun around the instructors side and punched his other arm downwards to break it in two, he finished with three rapid punches to his stomach which should wind him enough to stop any other offensive moves. Even so after Marr had done all this in the space of a second or two moving 50% faster as he was, he danced away and prepared for another attack. He deactivated his Jikangan, and saw that the instructor fell to the ground and was unconscious for a short period.

Marr stood up from his battle stance and walked back over to Karasu, who was shocked and asked "how? I didn't see anything one second he was running at you the next he was on the ground?" Marr replied in a low whisper "Jikangan." She made an o face and watched as the instructor breathing heavily; gasping really made his way to his feet. He looked at Marr and said, "alright monster you pass. You are officially a part of this class and are given the rank genin, class is dismissed meet back a week from now for the trials." He then walked painfully away toward the hospital. The class still in shock did as he said and returned home avoiding Marr out of respect more than fear, Karasu hugged him and said, "you did it! You didn't hurt him too badly did you? Marr shook his head and replied,

"No nothing that rest won't fix I only broke about three bones maybe, he will be fine." Karasu absorbed that and then said, "Can you teach me to fight? Not like you did but well enough that I can pass the trials?" Marr smiled a half smile and replied "yes my lady first we will find your chakra types, then we will spar and I will teach you how to defend yourself with weapons as well. Karasu smiled and nodded her head in happiness. They began to walk back to Karasu's house. Unbeknownst to them as they were walking away the instructor was walking to the Shogun's castle, he was not going to let a dark one become a jonin for he had the ability to and even possibly something higher. He reached lord Baragon's house the first house on the way and also the manager of all military activities.

For in the Shadow Village if a jonin was shown to be more reliable than others he would receive the rank of count and gain land and servants, and would gain in times of war a part of the Shogun's military, strength. Usually about a hundred men, which consisted of all ninja making a count one to be feared. If that count was powerful enough to win battles for the Shogun the Shogun would then grant him a lordship which meant more land usually one of the fiefs around the village or the villages that the Shadow village maintained to keep a military presence elsewhere around the world. And in times of war they would become generals able to command anywhere for a thousand ninja to ten thousand ninja.

Depending on what the shogun needed. Some forsaking their lands chose to be viceroys of certain functions of the village, in peacetime. It was also the only way to become Shogun only a lord viceroy could become Shogun. He walked up to lord viceroy's Baragon's mansion, and knocked a servant answered he was led to lord Baragon, who he told everything to. Lord Baragon was impressed that a 16-year-old boy had defeated a jonin and said regardless of his human status or lack there of he would be taught, he could be a huge asset to the village. Lord Baragon instructed the teacher of class six to have Marr take the jonin trials instead of the chunin ones, but to not tell him for he wanted to see how Marr would react.

Marr had found that Karasu had a water nature and a minor wind nature. So he began to teach her different easy to master water jutsu, level C's and a few level B's. She excelled under his tutelage her sparring was a different matter entirely, it was untrained and wild so through the rest of the days in the week he taught her sparring techniques and also battle analysis to be able to read her opponent. The trials drew ever closer with each day of practice.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

By the time Friday rolled around the news that a dark one, was alive and in the village had reached most of the counts and jonin's ears and all of the lords ears. Marr was aware of the talk and the new found awareness of his person, at night sitting and guarding Karasu's house he had felt eyes, he could not pinpoint them but he felt them, it was not paranoia, but his animal instincts warning him.

As he and Karasu walked around the village she showing him places she loved, and he being tugged along on the grand tour of the village, he found that people recognized him now and would whisper when they thought he was out of earshot, yet they underestimated his hearing ability. Thankfully it was more interest than anything, along with some fear here and there. He was surprised he thought that he would be chased out of the village by now. He assumed his main benefactor was Lord Baragon, he had heard that name tossed around as well, he apparently had high hopes for Marr more as a tool of warfare, than anything. Marr had no issues with that, as long as he was able to protect Karasu. He would become a weapon of war if it were needed.

Apparently lord Baragon had been telling the village en-masse that he was not to be feared for he had been cleaning up their messes for years and was going to be a huge asset, to the village, it was during one of Karasu's "show Marr the entire village, walks" that he finally heard from the man himself. He was walking out with Karasu of her second favorite barbeque restaurant he had enjoyed it yet he had eaten nothing he simply enjoyed her company he had some much to say because he had not talked to a human in years, she was never found wanting conversation. A servant of lord Baragon stopped them when they walked out of the restaurant. Lord Baragons colors were blue and gold hence Marr could immediately tell it was his servant.

All lords had colors they chose and they made those who worked under them, wear the colors it was an effective system to keep tabs on who was who. The servant handed Marr a scroll, and said "Marr kun, Lord Baragon respectfully wishes your presence, at his house to talk with you. Marr whispered in Karasu's ear and Karasu told the servant that "he would love to but he needed her their to be able to talk to him." The servant nodded and replied that he had expected as much and he left. Marr opened the scroll it told him to arrive at five if it suited him. He showed it to Karasu and she said "well that is in an couple minutes he really gave us not time huh? Marr laughed and said, "I have never been late for anything come with me."

She followed him into the shade of a tree, he performed seven hand seals and said "shadow style underworld flight" he reached out his hand towards her and she grabbed it suddenly she lost all sight, the world was dark she could see nothing, she panicked and tried to pull away to find her way out. Marr gripped harder and suddenly she felt like they were falling, and then as soon as it had begun it ended. She opened her eyes and they were in the shade under a tree in front of Lord Baragon's house. She turned to Marr and still panicked asked, "um what was that?" Marr smiled and replied "shadow travel, anywhere there is a shadow I can materialize to, as long as there are shadows connecting the two points, and it is a dark one specific jutsu hence the shadow style that I said."

Marr blinked twice and fell to his knee; Karasu worried, asked what was wrong. Marr said not to worry "I just have never traveled with anyone before it takes a huge amount of chakra, just by myself it is one of my hardest jutsu, and with another person it is even more difficult." Karasu apologized and then said, "luckily we didn't have to travel to far." Marr rose from his knee and said, "actually the chakra is the same no matter the distance, and it is the weight that I transfer that costs the most chakra." Karasu nodded and then started walking up the steps; Marr quickly caught up to her and was at the doorstep when she knocked. A servant answered and looked shocked that they were their on time for Karasu noticed that the travel had taken a couple seconds, what would have taken fifteen minutes took a second, she was amazed once again at Marr and wondered if he would ever stop surprising her.

The servant led them to Lord Baragon's guest room, Karasu was looking up and down and around amazed at the wealth, Marr was focused on his goal destination and his surroundings were meaningless for he sensed no danger. They reached the room Lord Baragon was in. He bid them to sit and started by saying "welcome Marr, I am surprised at the speed at which you reached me, the servant I sent has still not returned." Marr inclined his head, Lord Baragon continued, Marr I have known of no Dark ones in my lifetime yet my father has told me of their power and their ability to kill anyone anywhere. I will be frank; I have recommended you to take the Jonin trials instead of the chunin trials. When Saturday comes you will be tested and if you pass, I will have another test for you here, if you pass both being one of the five Lord Viceroys in the village I would like to hire you to be one of my Hand.

Karasu gasped loudly, Marr being unfamiliar with the villages; militaristic system whispered in Karasu's ear his question, which she repeated, "he wants to know what that is and what it entails." Lord Baragon started again "Marr there are five Lord Viceroys, in the village including the Shogun who is currently in control of the political systems of the Shadow Village, I in control of our military power, in times of peace. Lord Viceroy Lucien, in control of the economic systems both foreign and domestic in the village, Lord Viceroy Kotomaru, in control of the religious systems in the village. Lastly, Lord Viceroy Manamit in control of the police force. Each lord viceroy is allowed to employ four helpers, usually helpers within the area he is concerned so Lord Kotomaru has jonin cardinals in his service, Lord Manamit has jonin chiefs of police in his service, Lord Lucien has the market guild leaders under his control.

And I being the leader of military force in times of peace including all the villages' contracts, have four paid jonin assassins. Which help me with the assassination contracts we get, that are too difficult for the general ninja, we have in the village. Also some contracts that are directly from me or the other lord viceroys or even the Shogun." He let that sink in then continued "the pay for a successful mission is very generous, especially if the target is a dangerous person or is already wanted, if they are, you get the bounty along with the payment for success. However passing the jonin trials and the test I have are only the beginning we will drill you for months before you are declared a special class jonin and receive, the mark of the assassin class the black mark."

Pausing Lord Baragon then asked, "Will you take the tests and sacrifice months of your life to become one of my assassins?" Marr whispered in Karasu's ear and she told Lord Baragon "he said yes to gain the skills he would need to protect me." Lord Baragon smiled and said, "a noble task indeed and a wise decision power without skill is no power at all."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Marr agreed to Lord Baragon's statement only slightly, he reasoned with his Jikangan anything was possible he had no need for skill if people were moving so slow that he could read all of their movements. Oddly enough it was on this very point that he would be wrong. Lord Baragon rose and so did Karasu, Marr took a while longer but he eventually rose as well, he had been lost in his thoughts.

Lord Baragon himself thanked them and then showed them out. Once Marr and Karasu began walking back to Karasu's house (for Marr could not afford to shadow travel twice in one day) she began congratulating him and basically fawning all over the fact that he was to be not only a Jonin but a Jonin Assassin as well. Marr however stayed silent for he was worried, he felt unsafe leaving Karasu alone for as long, as he was sure the missions he would be embarking on would take. Also the assassin training sounded like it was time consuming as well, which meant more time away from Karasu, meaning more opportunities for her to be hurt. He would think on the problem he told himself. As he thought this he realized he had been silent for a while, and that she had also been silent for a while. He turned to her and asked, "what do the trials both chunin and jonin entail?"

Karasu looked at him and replied "well as you know in our village, you can only advance by militaristic success so of course, the chunin system is the same, to become a chunin you have to show the instructors that you are indeed, ready to advance usually by taking the multiple tests, that you did. We are then led to the training grounds above the village in a small-forested area. Then you are given a number, that you are required to keep on your person at all times in the following hours. You are to seek the numbers match. So if I got the number 1 I would look for the other person that had a 1. Once you find that person you are to either kill them or be killed by them, the victor of the battle takes the other number and returns to the proctor.

If you do this you pass, I did not pass the preliminary tests I mentioned earlier last year so I did not take the trials." Marr was shocked he had known it was harsh, but he did not know that you had to kill someone. He had seen a few issues with the system though so he brought these up "wait then if that's true then wouldn't you want to fail the preliminary tests so you could have another year of practice and make sure you won the battle? Also how is it possible that you could survive in a fight against a chunin because it sounds like a random drawing right?" Karasu shook her head and replied "if you fail the preliminary test you are evaluated by sensory type ninja and if you are found to have more skill or chakra than is suspected of your current rank, the sensory team is ordered to kill you on the spot.

It was scary when they did it to me they locked me in a room and four jonin evaluated me I was so afraid that I would have more chakra than was expected. Luckily they found that I had the expected levels of chakra and skill, hence I am here today. Also it is not a random drawing genin only go up against genin and chunin only go up against chunin. Except in rare cases like your Marr." Marr considered this but found another issue "how does the village maintain its strength with so many potential ninja dead?" Karasu looked him with an questioning look on her face, than said "well other villages that do it differently, field ninja that have never killed or experienced real battle or real fear, hence one shadow village, chunin is roughly equivalent to three or four outer village chunin.

At least that is what my instructor said in one of his lectures." Marr could see that, one who had experienced killing and life and death situations would be much more prepared for those situations than someone who had not. Karasu added, "we also are older when we start Ninjutsu School so while, other villages are fielding inexperienced untrained children to do their missions we are fielding highly skilled, killers to do our missions." She stopped with a sigh. Marr thought, "that is why I never see any genin outside the village it is because the village only has chunin or higher level ninja do the missions outside the village, so the potential chunin don't die prematurely." Marr was worried for Karasu what if she died in the trials?

He had not realized they were so harsh and unforgiving. Karasu looked at him and saw his worried face; she reached for his arm and drew herself close to his side. Then said, "don't worry with what you have taught me, I will be fine." She was right Marr had taught her quite a bit she had improved tremendously under his tutelage. His worry receded a little but it did not go away completely. They reached her house and he smelled the familiar smells of pine and hickory wood burning, and something cooking, and his worry completely left him. The next day was the day of the trials Saturday. Both he and Karasu arose early as they had been instructed and went to the school building. When they arrived they sat in the same seats they had last Saturday.

Marr was ready he had faced death before he was not worried in the least, the atmosphere around the room were quite different, he could smell the fear, for all the students here might well be dead in a couple of hours. Karasu was also worried but was trying to hide it, but this close Marr could hear her heartbeat and it was beating too fast to be comfortable he thought. He thought that her parent's farewell had not helped the situation either. Her mother had acted as if she was being sent to die. He assumed his parents would have acted the same way. The proctor who happened to be the teacher Marr had fought last week entered and said "Marr please come to the front." Marr looked at Karasu and said "you will be fine remember all that I taught you, also" here he paused and formed four seals the last one being unfamiliar to Karasu and said "shadow style, shadow guardian."

There was a dark inky looking liquid that fell from his downward facing palms and blobbed on the table and slowly took the form of a black bird. Marr said "Agramon told me about this he seems to like you, it is a raven, if you need my help during the trials or ever again and I am not with you, simply look at the raven, hold up your arm to him and say my name. I will be there as fast as I can to help you," he paused and looked away quickly form her, when he looked back she saw sadness and despair on his face, he continued and said, "please don't die Karasu." He then turned towards the proctor, and began walking toward him. While the raven flew silently around the room always keeping an eye on Karasu, when Marr reached the front of the room where the proctor was standing.

The proctor said "it is now seven in the morning, the chunin trials begin at eight. You will report to the training grounds at ten for the jonin trials, until then you are dismissed, is that understood?" Marr nodded, then walked towards the exit, before he walked out he looked at Karasu and mouthed good luck, then smiled a half smile and left.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

After Marr had left the room Karasu really began to be worried for her well being, she looked up and saw the black bird, which looked like a raven, and felt a small sense of comfort but not much. At least half of the people in this room would be dead by tonight and their parents would never be able to see them again.

It was a harsh way to judge battle readiness but, the Shadow Village was always under stress from its surrounding enemy nations, a small nation the Shadow Land's and the main village the Shadow Village was pressed on all three sides by enemy nations, all waiting to take it out for its natural resources and the land it controlled so they could get a leg up on the other two. If the village were to be taken by any of the three, that one would have enough power to defeat the other two. Karasu thought to herself "you could say our village is the keystone to controlling this portion of the world." The three lands fought amongst themselves a lot which helped the shadow village out a little but in the end there efforts were concentrated on conquering the Shadow Land's. Hence the harshness of the trials the village needed soldiers not children.

The time had come. The teacher/proctor rose and said "everyone stand and follow me to the battle grounds." The entire class did so for to disobey would mean death better to fight for life than to have certain death. After about a ten minute walk they reached a fenced off area, it had one gate, and at that gate stood four jonin, who had placards in their hands with gray sashes in between each placard. The proctor stated loudly, "alright in your current line starting from the front walk up to one of the jonin and receive your number, hold it down facing until instructed otherwise. Is that understood?' The entire class replied instantly "Yes Sir!" then began to walk forward, as they reached the jonin the placards were distributed, and they were ordered to continue to walk until they had reached the center of the area.

It was a giant squared off area, the battlegrounds they were to fight in, with only a few tress and high grass. It was obviously a killing field not meant for hiding but for fighting. They were told to make a circle so they did, they looked at each other some worried some scared, some outright terrified. The proctor told them to reveal their individual placards. So they did Karasu raised hers yet she could not see it as they were told only to look at each other's not there own. She looked around they were all red and blue numbers ranging from one to twenty. The jonin surveyed all of them and said, "Alright turn your backs to each other", they all did so, "now look at your placards and find your same number." A slight pause, but before anyone had looked at his or her placard the proctor shouted, "Begin!" Most students stood still surprised at the suddenness of it all, but Karasu taught by Marr that to stand meant death, instantly dashed for the tress and crouched behind it hoping to hide for a while.

The test involved, not only skill in power, but also skill in observation. When she turned to look back at the starting point most of all the students had done likewise, except for four who had noticed each others numbers were the same and were now fighting for their lives, she looked at her number it was a red 12, she had seen another 12 held by a slight figure meaning a girl, the placard was now attached to her shoulder, so she tried her best to keep it moving to make identification difficult. She looked around, the braver (or less intelligent) students had began to walk openly looking for their matching numbers she saw eights and fives and ones and twos, the four that had been fighting were sixes and sevens, the fight had already been decided, two small bodies laid in the grass. One she saw was charred pretty bad obviously a fire style Justsu.

She assumed the victors had been grabbed and sent home or to the infirmary depending on how stable they were. They would receive their rank increase and talismans the next day. She sat behind the tree, determined to hide until she found her, target all of the sudden a slight figure walked by her hiding place and went to hide in the bush a little to the right of her position, her protector was still hovering above confident in this she slowly advanced towards the bush, she had a feeling this was it, Marr had told her to rely on her instincts, they usually were not wrong. The figure was breathing heavily obviously in pain the person had probably been caught in a fight between two others, which was another hazard of this test. She moved closer easily under the sounds of her, (for it was defiantly a her) heavy wheezing, and also using Marr invaluable training on near silent movement. She drew close enough to see the figure, and as she moved one step closer she saw the number in bright blue, it was a twelve!

She drew back slowly and knowing she would have one chance for a surprise, quickly rose from the crouch she had been in and formed five hand seals, and said "Water Style Water Bullet Justsu!" Before the figure could move Karasu's justsu that had been taught to her by Marr struck the girl in the back with the force of pressurized water and drilled a small hole into her shoulder. Karasu was disappointed Marr's had gone through a tree with ease. She did not have much time to think, she followed up the surprise attack with a leap through the air she landed on top of the girl, and forcefully drove her kunai into the girl's stomach with all her might. The blade bit hard and she felt it go through flesh and sinew and eventually bone as it exited out her back. She leaped of the girl and took a defensive stance, for Marr had warned her "just when you think you have won, you have lost."

The girl didn't move and she could smell her blood there must have been a lot of it. She moved closer slowly and looked at the girl, as she gazed upon her face she noticed it was Ayame who's eyes once so full of life were now dull gray and lifeless, she was dead. Karasu had hated her but had never wanted to kill her or anyone for that matter, but she knew that it had to be done and so accepted it; at least Ayame had died at the hands of a friend in her home country instead at the hands of a stranger on a foreign field. She called the proctor who rushed over determined that she was dead, took her placard and Karasu's off their shoulders. Then said "congratulations Karasu you have passed the trials and are now a Chunin you will receive your rank, armor, and talisman tomorrow, are you well enough to go home?" Karasu nodded and so the proctor told her to go home and show up at the school tomorrow at noon. Karasu nodded again and then walked towards her home.

When she rounded the corner that was the street her house was on, she saw a figure running towards her, at first she couldn't tell who it was then, all of the sudden with the force of a bull charging the figure hit her and began to hug her so tight she could not breathe. She knew it had to be Marr. He loosened his hug and swung her around in circles, he put her down and when she could breathe again he said, "thank god you are alive, I was watching and I saw you round the corner and I couldn't contain myself." He paused and pulled her into another embrace, this one soft and gentle, but yet still powerful and protective. She felt him shaking, and heard him sobbing lightly, she heard him say in between breaths for air, "I thought I would lose you, I thought I would never see you again."

Karasu still in shock from the first hug and now thoroughly blushing and extremely excited about this one, hugged him back and drew herself closer to him in the process, and after a while of silence said, "see? Theirs nothing to worry about little one, I'm all right no need to worry or to cry. She sank to the ground with him and held him until he had regained himself.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Marr quickly pulled himself together and, (to the disappointment of Karasu) released her and quickly rose to his feet, he easily picked her up as well and then they turned for her home. As they were walking she noticed that Marr seemed troubled assuming it was still the worry for her well being she said "Marr don't worry the trials are over and I will be put into a squad. I will be fine from here on out.

Marr looked at her and shook his head slowly, saying "that is not it my lady", (Karasu had given up on trying to get him to stop calling her that), "I am simply concerned for my actions recently I should not have forcefully held you like that, it was not warranted and not asked for, I reminded myself of the men I had once hated and hunted, I will try to constrain myself, I apologize for my rash action." Karasu was shocked, she had been surprised, but not angry or scared, once she realized who it was, she actually had thoroughly enjoyed it. She was about to tell him this when she thought to herself "if my parents had been killed and my mother raped by men how would I feel about anything to do with physical contact?" She came to the same conclusion that Marr had, minutes after he had witnessed it. That watching men do that, watching men hurt a woman like that, meant he would never physically impose himself on a woman.

Ever. Unless specifically asked for, and then even at that, he would tread cautiously fearful of hurting her in any way. Karasu wondered, (after she had come to this conclusion), what she meant to Marr if she was a friend, or an interest that he was attempting to suppress his interest for. Or maybe a pseudo mother figure, because he had lost his at such a young age, and then lost his second "mother" two years later. Then with her present line of thinking another disturbing thought came, she wondered, "what do I think of him?" She knew that she felt sad for him, not pity per- se, but sad for what he had been through, she knew she was one of the only people he had talked to in over seven years, she also knew that he was still despised by nearly everyone who had ever heard of a dark one, even her parents still would jump a little when he spoke or entered the rooms where they were.

She also knew that he would always be a shining knight in her eyes because of what he had saved her from. She was also sure that she felt something else, she could not put her finger on the feeling, but it was as if, when she saw him, he lit up her sight, when he walked with her she felt safer than she had felt, since she became conscious of the world around her. She knew that when he had held her however briefly, it was like she was in their own world, just the two of them. She was always smiling when she was around him, and she finally felt like she could stand living with her parents and little brother, without tearing out her hair. She knew not what this feeling was, but she knew it was a pleasant one. As they reached her home and walked in the front door, these thoughts were racing through her head she almost forgot to remove her shoes, when she had entered she was surprised to see her whole family gathered, her mother was beaming and her father looked very proud.

He stated loudly as if for the world to hear "my daughter returns, a Chunin and alive" here he rushed her and hugged her tightly, quickly joined by her mother and then her brother, the family hugged each other tightly for a while, Marr silently walked outside and leaned against the front wall of the house and waited. Karasu talked with her parents and they kept congratulating her over and over, she almost regaled the tale, when her father said, "Marr was watching the whole time, his raven transmitted what it was seeing so we got to watch the whole thing!" Here Marr entered and said "I hope that was not to overbearing my lady your mother was worried so I took them down to the river and showed them what I was seeing." Marr explained it was simply a chakra image he projected on a clear mirror like surface, usually water or glass, and that the raven's sight was only in the back of his mind unless he concentrated on it.

Before too long it was time for Marr's trials, Karasu's parents wished him well then retreated upstairs, Karasu's little brother ran up to Marr and hugged his leg and pleaded with him to return, so that he would not be alone with his sister, he saw the glare she was forming and so he also ran upstairs. Finally Karasu, told him to be careful, he nodded and began to turn when, she rushed _him_ this time, and hugged him tight and, whispered in his ear "come back to me." Marr replied, "I shall my lady." He then left. Marr walked down to the school house, and went to the same class he had first entered classroom 6, when he entered he noticed that the room was mostly full, with about 30 Chunin already seated, he went to the back seat and sat down, painfully aware of how quiet it had become since he had entered, and also aware of the evil sneers and talk going back and forth between the Chunin, they thought he was unfit to be in their trials, they had heard he was old enough but they had also heard he was only a Genin.

Most of them were sure they could beat him, and most started to hope to pull his number. Marr simply observed and waited. The same proctor entered and the same orders and walk commenced, they reached the gate with six Jonin this time, and they were given numbers and entered the same battleground as Karasu had. Before they were told to hold their numbers up, Marr realized that all he had to do was look at his, and he would have a leg up on the rest of them. So quickly, he activated his Jikangan and aware that the Jonin were watching he increased his perception by 75%, he quickly turned it over saw the number and turned it back down. He deactivated his eyes and looked at the only Jonin who was looking at him when she caught his eyes with hers she blushed and bowed her head quickly. She had cute eyes he thought they were a bright pink hue he was unfamiliar with. After she bowed her head he thought, "Great it worked" his number was a 6.

He did not consider it cheating the test-involved ability at gathering information and hunting down targets, he had simply gathered information; he was about to hunt down a target. They were now in a circle, the bodies of the Genin still littered the area, apparently to add another hazard and mental obstacle, you had to be ready to see death, to fight properly, you had to be able to fight around your comrades bodies and use them as shields if need be. Marr planned how he would attack he thought the best method would be to find his target and end it quickly. They were told to hold up their numbers, and Marr saw to his left there was a blue 6, he did not shift his body for that would give away that he knew his number. The proctor lifted his hand and said "Begin!"

Marr had already activated his Jikangan and had sped up his perception by 35%, as soon as the proctor in slow motion said begin Marr turned and ran to the left found the blue 6 and checked his number again confirmed it was a 6 and grabbed the owners head and twisted hard to the right snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Marr did not recognize him; Marr plucked his placard out of his now dead and slowly falling hands. He deactivated his Jikangan and walked up to the proctor, the Chunin still had not moved from their positions and when they saw Marr walking they all stopped and observed him most hoping there number matched his. Then some gasped, they saw his red 6 but he was also carrying a blue 6 they turned to the left when they heard a scream, the dead body Marr had left fell on a girl and she had screamed in surprise.

Marr walked up to the proctor he handed him the blue 6 and his red 6. The proctor dumbfounded at the speed at which he had completed the trial, said "um well um…" he cleared his throat regained his composure and continued "Marr you have completed the Jonin trials, you will receive your rank, armor, mark, and talisman tomorrow until then you are dismissed. Marr nodded and walked towards the exit with the rest of the Chunin still staring in disbelief, the proctor then yelled loudly "what are you fools doing I said begin!" and so the Jonin trials began. Marr returned to Karasu's house and knocked because the door was closed, she answered and was about to say "Yes?" when she saw it was Marr she threw the door open and asked "did they cancel the trials?" He replied "no, I just completed them already."

She was dumbfounded, the fastest trials ever had taken sixteen minutes even at the Genin level and that had been the current Shogun's time! She told Marr this and he nodded and said his was probably in three or four seconds. As he was saying this he suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The fall was so sudden and fast, Karasu doubted even if she had suddenly acquired and activated her Jikangan, she could have caught him. As it was, he fell like a tree in the forest, and landed with a thud. She yelled in worry, and immediately heard footsteps rushing down the upstairs hall and then down the stairs, her father appeared around the corner, and saw her struggling with what appeared to him, like the lifeless body of Marr.

He ran over to help her, he picked him up and they laid him on the couch, Karasu, still worried, asked frantically if he was dead. Her father held up his hand, needing to concentrate he felt his pulse. It was still active, albeit weak; he also could sense his chakra. Which still felt slightly oppressive when he looked too deep. "He is alive," her father said, "but he is unconscious." Karasu launched into a flurry of questions, including many her father had no idea about. Her father raised his hand again, and motioned for more silence, he responded "stop fretting girl he will be fine just give him some rest." He left to go back upstairs, soon after Karasu's mother followed after a parting well wish for Marr. Karasu stayed next to him, she moved his head and upper body, slightly and slithered her way under both, she then laid his head on her chest and laid his upper body on her stomach she wrapped one arm around him and with the other she slowly stroked his hair.

She began to hum hoping to copy, Snow-Fur's humming, which had made him so comfortable. Slowly his face began to relax. Three or four hours later, all of the sudden, his eyes flew open and he twisted out of her grip. He crouched in an animal defense stance. She in shock looked at him, his hair was bristling as with electricity, his hands had sharpened fingernails, that looked like claws, his teeth, which he had bared, were back to the fang like state she had seen when he had told them his story. His eyes though… his eyes were black all the way around like usual, yet in the center where his iris should have been there was a blood red light, an angry smoldering ruby hue. As soon as she saw them they were gone. With a voice that made her feel like prey again, he said, "My lady I need to leave for a while I will return." He snapped his fingers and melded into the shadows.

Marr appeared back near his home on the mountain. He was near to losing control; he had to find something to eat. He activated his hanta no shiryoku; luckily there happened to be a lone someone nearby, he was hoping it would be a brigand or at least a person of no consequence. It unfortunately was neither; the village would be missing a farmer by tomorrow, Marr refused to kill him though, so he dropped his unconscious form at the infirmary. Partially sated and feeling under control of himself again, he melded again and reappeared outside Karasu's house, he sat down on the porch and took his usual post. After an hour or so he heard footsteps, Karasu appeared around the corner, she was wearing only her under garments and a night shift. She sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder and then asked, "Did you pass out because you were hungry and are you" a pause and then "full?" Marr replied, "I am sated and no I have never passed out from hunger before, plus I have this awful headache, that feels like my head is being stabbed with tiny knives."

He was silent for a while then he said, "It must be a side effect of the Jikangan, one that I am not aware off. No power is without price." Karasu replied it must be because you have used it so much recently, it must have put a strain on you." Marr agreed, he would discover the mystery later. Karasu and Marr sat their a while and Karasu began nodding off, then finally she fell all the way asleep he lifted her and carried her to her room, then laid her down on her bed and covered her in her blankets. He resumed his watch. The next day a servant of Lord Baragon appeared and told Marr congratulations, for passing, and that his master was impressed, and requested his presence at his house, alone, after he had received his rank. Marr told the servant he would be there and the servant walked off. Karasu was frustrated, she had wanted to be there, but she understood, and so simply got ready for the ceremony.

The ceremony was held in the castle courtyard, it had been made appropriate for the ceremony. Mainly by deactivating all of the explosives and trap Jutsu. The new Chunin were the first to be recognized, they walked up one by one and received their rank in the form of recognition from the Lord Viceroys, specifically Lord Baragon. Then Lord Baragon transferred their Genin armor to the new Chunin armor that was battle ready and black. He then attached the talisman in its proper place on the left shoulder. He supplied them with all the beginning standard equipment for Chunin, which consisted of 20 shuriken, 10 kunai 5 smoke bombs and 30 explosive tags. Of course if they wanted different items they would have to buy them themselves. Finally he handed all the new Chunin their squadron assignments.

A harsher part of the ceremony was that all parents, even those of the dead Genin had to attend; it was to instill anger and harsher training in future generations, of Genin. In fact it had been shown that the generations who were brought up by parents, who had lost a son or daughter produced the best candidates. Marr looked over and he saw both men and women sobbing and some who were stern faced, and determined. After Karasu received her armor and equipment, she stepped down and went back to her family. After all the new Chunin had done the same. Lord Baragon dismissed the new Chunin and their parents, and the other Viceroy's as well. Karasu hugged Marr and said she would see him afterwards, then left with her family. The new Jonin then stepped up. Marr noticed there were about thirty of them. There had been about 70 to 80 new Chunin.

Just as before all parents were required to attend, this time there were no determined, stern faces, all the women and most of the men, were sobbing into their hands. The ceremony was the same except for one important thing. The Shogun himself was seated behind Lord Baragon watching the ceremony. The new Jonin walked up, and received their Jonin style armor, that was also battle ready, but a grayish black color, that looked like smoke from a fire. They received the same armaments as the Chunin had, with more diverse equipment, including, trip wires, timed paper bombs, poisons, and special chakra imbued kunai and shuriken, that could be charged, with the users chakra to create elemental weapons.

The new Jonin also received the mark of a Jonin in the Shadow Lands, a chakra created black mark, on their right eye. The mark had one "slash" that went straight up from the center of your eyebrow, pointing up towards the for-head. The other two "slashes" went from the center of your bottom right eyelid straight down to the right corner of your mouth. The mark used chakra imbued black ink so it burned as it was put in; it was a test of strength to be able to withstand the process. The whole procession went well and as expected until it was Marr's turn, he already had Jonin armor from the rouge he had killed on his mountain. So they gave him his equipment as well as his talisman, which the others already had. However when Lord Baragon raised his hand to mark Marr, the Shogun suddenly stood from his chair. Lord Baragon immediately asked "my lord what is it that you require?" The Shogun remaining silent walked up to him and pushed him lightly aside.

He then said directly to Marr "boy what was your time in the trials?" Marr took a good look at the Shogun; he was much taller than Marr. He must have been close to seven feet tall. He was covered from head to toe, in a dark as night O-Yoroi, capped off with a menacing looking Kabuto. On his side he had a long Katana, accompanied by its companion sword a Wakizashi. Both attached and held by a sash. Marr felt that if he had needed to the Shogun could make deadly use of both. Which might explain the next to non-existent security around the courtyard. Marr felt something he had not felt in years. Fear. He could sense the Shogun's chakra; it was greater than his by leaps and bounds.

Marr did not respond, as usual, and Lord Baragon said, "My lord it was in four seconds." The Shogun laughed in his booming voice, which made the rest of the new Jonin jump. Marr thankfully retained his stance. The Shogun removed his right hand glove. He then marked Marr, as the rest had been. He said, "live long Marr, I finally have a challenge to look forward too." Marr nodded, then returned to the rest of the new Jonin, they were dismissed and Marr headed to Karasu's house.

Japanese Help (in order of appearance):

Karasu = Raven

Jikangan = Time Eye

hanta no shiryoku = Hunters Sight

Shogun = commander of a force (militaristic ruler)

O-Yoroi = great armor (samurai armor)

Kabuto = helmet (samurai helmet)

Katana = sword (samurai sword)

Wakizashi = side inserted (samurai short sword)


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Marr relished the walk to Karasu's house; he had been using his meikai hiko (underworld flight) too much recently. He had begun to feel its drain on him, he also noticed that it was particularly bright out today, hence he had to increase the level of chakra he put into his taiyo tate (sun shield), all of these factors led to him being more tired than usual, he also realized that he had been spending a lot of time in the village.

Marr mentally sighed; he would have never had to do any of this normally. It was all because of her, he just couldn't stand to be away from her. He could not even explain it to himself. It was just a strong want, almost a need for her, and her safety. Marr rounded the corner and walked the slight distance remaining, he entered Karasu's house no longer needing her permission to enter, for she had given it long ago. She saw him enter and she left the family huddle to walk up to him. They had been discussing her squadron assignment, and the people in it, along with its first class Chunin leader. However they all dropped that topic immediately when she noticed his Shadow Mark, Karasu reached up, and lightly ran her fingers along the mark amazed at how it felt like skin instead of ink. They all congratulated him and asked how it went. Speaking directly to Karasu he retold the events of the day. They were all shocked; Karasu's father asked "the Shogun really said that to you?"

Marr nodded, all of the family looked at him with a new respect, save Karasu, she had expected as much from her dark knight. Marr then mentioned that he had to go meet Lord Baragon as he was told to do. Karasu said, "wait, what about your squadron?" Marr looked confused at first then thought back. All of the new Jonin had received their assignments, yet; he had not received his. He replied "I don't know maybe its because Lord Baragon wants me to be one of his hand?" Karasu nodded "that must be it" she said. They all wished him good luck and Marr left. It was a long walk to Lord Baragons's mansion, yet Marr once again did not mind, it was bright but pleasant out still. He reached the mansion and knocked on its front door. A servant answered and said, "this way" Marr was led to the exact same room as last time. He sat down and Lord Baragon entered, and spoke "Marr congratulations apparently it was an event to see most people say they only saw you carrying the placards, and nothing else." Marr nodded in response.

Lord Baragon continued "Marr I have one final test and if you pass it I will have you trained as one of my hand, and in a short time I will send you on assassination missions. They are dangerous and harsh, plus Lord Katamaru, the leader of the priests, monks, and religion in the village has already publically said he wants you gone one way or another." Marr just nodded again. "Marr he says he hates the idea of you dark ones and will probably send you on missions to get you killed are you sure this is the path you want?" Marr cared little for his warnings and nodded once again. Lord Baragon looking overjoyed at his acceptance, said, "follow me"

Marr rose and followed him they walked into a square room that was lit by one light in the center of the ceiling, it was entirely made out of wood, and the wood looked thick. There was another presence in the room Marr looked, and saw a man in his mid to late twenties standing. He bowed his head when Lord Baragon entered and asked, "is this the one?" Lord Baragon nodded and turned to Marr and said "try you're hardest to defeat, Kenji here. But be cautious he has been a hand of mine for years." Marr nodded and Lord Baragon retreated out of the room. Kenji crouched into a defensive stance; Marr did the same yet Marr's was more aggressive. Kenji advanced slowly, as Kenji took his first step. Marr immediately activated his Jikangan, Kenji saw this and stopped immediately, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, Marr saw another Jikangan for the first time in his life. Marr was surprised. His own Jikangan was a pure gold iris he had thought, that was normal, Kenji's was gold as well but it was more of a bronze-ish hue.

Kenji then spoke "I may not have been able to do this at your age and my eyes, are not a s powerful as your eyes I can see but, I can beat you in a Jikangan fight." Marr doubted this, he increased the speed of his perception, and as an opening attack, dashed to Kenji's left, Kenji increased his perception as well and moving faster than Marr thought was possible intercepted Marr mid dash and kicked him hard in his side, with enough force to knock him clear across the room and slam against the far wall. Kenji appeared next to him before he could even fall the foot or so to the floor. He threw an uppercut at Marr's jaw making him fly sky high, Marr anticipating that Kenji would follow up on this again, increased his perception of speed even more, he was now close to 100%. He had never gone that high before, it was dangerous. This time he was able to see Kenji even if only for a moment, he noticed that Kenji was above him preparing for a powerful leg drop on Marr's stomach.

Marr turned mid air and caught Kenji's heel as it descended towards his stomach, he rotated his hands and threw Kenji down towards the floor, immediately following this action, Marr formed seven hand seals and said " Suiton oni hiryu" (Water Style, Demon Ice Dragon) Marr blew a freezing white mist out that took the form of what looked like a snake except with small arms on its side near its head with claws on its hands. The mist-like dragon froze to ice instantly, then, the ice dragon chased the falling body of Kenji intent on crushing him against the floor. Marr felt Kenji molding chakra, he could not see Kenji, for his ice dragon blocked his view, but he heard Kenji say "Katon arashi nobi" (Fire Style, Tempest Wildfire), Marr saw an angry orange color against the white of his dragon he heard the dragon melting and the water turning into steam.

Marr smiled to himself, he let himself fall to the floor, he formed another ice dragon and sent it rocketing at the still midair form of Kenji, forcing Kenji to melt it once again with his wildfire, using the distraction of his dragon, Marr quickly formed six hand seals and using the steam now collecting around the ceiling of the room. Said "Suiton, kori no ame" (Water Style Ice Rain), the steam froze into ice by Marr's chakra, then raced downwards in a hail of ice shards as sharp as glass, the room had enough steam to cover the entire space, Marr saw Kenji look up and see the ice shards rushing towards him, Marr knew Kenji would not have enough time to form a defense to cover the entire room, so Kenji intelligently formed hand seals and shot his wildfire in a ball directly above him. Which melted the ice shards currently threatening him.

Marr grinned to himself again, he formed three seals, and said "Kageton kurai sosa" (Shadow Style Dark Manipulation) the ice shards which had been falling straight down suddenly stopped falling and flipped to point at Kenji, except for the ice Kenji had melted all the ice shards were now pointing at him, he was literally surrounded by them, Marr rose both his arms and made a sweeping motion with both arms, that looked like he was throwing something in either hand in the hands opposite direction. The ice shards rushed at high speed towards Kenji. Kenji had no time to react, he was hit on all sides by the ice, and he fell to the floor with a thud. Marr observed him; he looked like a porcupine, his body was covered in the ice shards. Marr still crouched slowly retreated from his body, when all of the sudden he felt a metallic sharp feeling against his throat, it was a kunai.

Marr rose with the blade he looked again at the body of Kenji, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He heard Kenji say to his left, "you pass." Then he felt the pressure against his neck recede, Marr turned and looked to the left at Kenji. Then, Marr turned around and saw another Kenji holding the kunai that had been pressed against his throat. He looked at the Kenji to his left with a confused look on his face. Kenji laughed and said, "never heard of a shadow clone before?" Marr nodded and understood, he had never been fighting Kenji he had been fighting one of his clones. Kenji then said, "you pass because of the ability you have, also you have a good combo style and you have a vast repertoire of Jutsu, and you have enough raw power, for this type of work. If you had been facing a regular Jonin you would have won.

Most people are gifted with skill and have to gain power; you were gifted with power and have to gain skill. A couple months training with me and we will fix that. Lord Baragon returned and said "I barely saw anything just a lot of ice and fire and then you standing behind him. Did he pass? Kenji nodded and said "yes and I will train him Lord." Lord Baragon nodded and then, turned to ask Marr how he felt, when Marr lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

Japanese Help (in order of appearance)

Katamaru = Soul/Wit

Kenji = Wise Second


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Marr awoke to a blinding light, and the overwhelming smell of sterilization, he knew that meant the infirmary, before he awoke fully and had some one tell him. It was a nurse; she entered and told him where he was, and that there were people outside wanting to speak with him. He told her to let them enter, and the nurse walked out. All was quiet for about two minutes, then he heard rushing feet, and saw his door burst open, he saw a blurred form rush towards him, and then felt something heavy land on his chest, the thing started sobbing into his shoulder. It was Karasu and she was obviously in distress.

Marr quickly asked "my lady what is the matter, are you hurt, what has happened?" Karasu lifted her head off of his shoulder and asked with great surprise "what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I'm not worried about me. Why do you keep losing consciousness?" Her voice seemed to raise an octave with each question. Marr smiled to himself, it was nothing after all. He replied "my lady I know not what is wrong with me, but right now I am having difficulty breathing." Karasu blushed bright red and immediately dismounted off of Marr's chest. Marr rose from the bed, then walked over to the waist high changing stall, found his clothes and began to change. Karasu embarrassed looked away quickly, and though she tried to control her eyes she could not help but notice how muscular and perfect Marr's upper-body was.

After he was done, he walked out with her, he saw her parents out in the waiting room, and saw Kenji as well. Kenji walked up and said abruptly "no more Jikangan for at least a week. Marr nodded, he had thought that was what it had been. Kenji nodded, in response "good at least you're not an idiot, the Jikangan is a powerful tool, but if overused it will knock you out. The periods of unconsciousness will become longer, and longer, the more you use it, so be wary." Marr nodded, then whispered a question in Karasu's ear, she answered, "you have been out for nine hours" Marr looked shocked, he understood what that could mean on a mission or in a battle. It almost certainly meant death. He nodded more vigorously at Kenji, who said, "don't worry, after training with me you probably won't even need it, unless you're in a dire circumstance."

Marr nodded, the nurse released him with great protest, and Kenji went his way, Marr walked back with Karasu's family, and her parents went to bed. Karasu said she wanted to watch over him, but Marr insisted she get some sleep as well. She went to bed and Marr took his usual post. In the morning, Karasu had her first meeting with her squadron, and Marr had his first training session with Kenji. Karasu's meeting with her squad was first, so, Marr tagged along intent in seeing her squad, and seeing if they were up to par for her protection. They reached the training field where she was supposed to meet them. There they waited, the next person to show up was a new Chunin named Daitaro, he was walking with a confidence that Marr liked, yet Marr sensed that he was not as strong as maybe he believed. He stood apart from them at first but then he spoke, "so…. hey guys, Karasu you are in my squad right?"

She said yes back to him, and Marr whispered in her ear "get to know him, your teamwork might save your life" Karasu nodded and went over and began a conversation with him. Marr did not listen it was not his place; he heard another set of footsteps approaching. These footsteps were heavier, than Daitaro's. He had been shorter than Marr by an inch or two, the new Chunin that came around the bend looked to be almost as tall as the Shogun Marr was 6'1 he had always considered himself pretty tall, but he felt small next to this person, he must have been 6'6 or 6'7! The boy came and stood next to Karasu and Daitaro, he said nothing, Karasu asked, "you must be Jiro right?" Jiro nodded yet did not speak. Marr liked him more and more each passing second. Marr also sensed strength in him, not so much a chakra power, but a pure physical power; he looked to Marr, as if he could crush skulls with his fists.

Marr felt much better now, that he knew Jiro would be next to Karasu, protecting her. Daitaro had blackish hair and was slim and slightly muscular. Jiro had brown hair; he was also slim yet he had more of a blockish appearance mostly due to his sheer size. He rippled with muscle, more than Marr. Yet Marr sensed he himself was stronger than Jiro simply because of his inhuman strength. After a while Jiro opened up and the squad began talking in earnest. Marr sensed one last presence approaching, he noticed it was trying to hide itself, none of the new Chunin had noticed yet. Marr without moving much adopted a defensive stance. The presence suddenly jumped out of the tree it was hiding in. It was hoping to land on all the new Chunin, yet before it could reach them.

Marr materialized in front of the Chunin, and had grabbed its throat and thrown it to the ground. The Chunin turned around and saw Marr standing over their squad leader, with his foot on his chest. Karasu rushed up and said frantically "Marr wait, don't kill him he is our squad leader." Marr looked at her, and nodded he lifted his foot and backed away. The squad leader got up and brushed himself off. He looked at Karasu and said, "what is the meaning of this Karasu?" She replied "I'm sorry, you must have done something that threatened me so he stopped it, I apologize he is very protective of me." Here her voice changed from shock to a warm smiling tone directed at her Dark Knight. The squad leader finished brushing himself off and said "fine. My name is Ren it's nice to meet you all. Marr whispered in Karasu's ear and she repeated what he had said "sir, Marr wants to know if its ok if he leaves me with some protection?"

Ren asked what sort; in response Marr performed four hand seals and said Kageton kurai okami (Shadow Style Dark Wolf) a mass of what looked like black ink formed in Marr's hands then fell to the ground where it took the shape of a wolf. Marr also pointed up which made them all look, they all saw Karasu's raven that was still there from the trials. Marr looked at Ren, with his black as the void eyes, and gave him a slight feeling of pressure from his chakra, Ren immediately accepted. Marr turned, and told Karasu, "the raven will watch over you. If it sees danger, the wolf will change into a clone of me, and will protect you until I can get there." He kissed her hand and said, "be safe." He left, Marr walked down to the training ground he was told to go to, and saw Kenji standing, waiting. Kenji's first words were "first no Jikangan, even if it were safe to use it, I wouldn't want you to use it.

You have to learn to fight without it. Have you ever fought without it?" Kenji asked. Marr shook his head no. Kenji sighed, then; he activated his Jikangan, (which Marr thought was unfair), and said. "You have to be able to dodge this, he formed nine seals and said, Raiton Chidori (Lightning style one thousand birds), he then materialized suddenly next to Marr, his hand by Marr's temple all fingers pointed straight with what looked like electricity in his hand. "That is a bit of an over estimate that was my top speed but you get the picture. Kenji stepped back and deactivated both the Justsu and his Jikangan. Marr looked at Kenji's hand where he had seen the technique form, and then pointed at his hand and then at Kenji's and formed the same seals as Kenji had. Kenji said, "oh you want to learn how to do Chidori? Do you even have a lightning nature?" Marr shrugged; though he knew how to test for it he had always been happy with his Water and Fire natures.

Kenji got out the chakra paper and said, "here test it." He handed the paper to Marr who took two, and held one in each hand, he sent his chakra through them, first they got soggy, and began to rip and tear, then they were lit on fire and really began to be destroyed. At the last second before the paper completely vanished, there was a faint crinkle and a spark of blue electricity. "Well I'll be damned three elements? I have never seen or heard of that before." Kenji said. "Ok, it's a minor nature but enough of it exists for a literal powerhouse like you to do it. But first, lets train you in battle skill, and also fire Jutsu, too much water in your fight against me, then we maybe will get to stealth and camouflage, and then assassination techniques, which may, or may not, include Chidori as a Jutsu to be learned." Here Kenji winked at Marr, so Marr did not know if he was joking or not, either way he had seen the hand seals, he would practice by himself later. So began, the months of missions for Karasu and the months of training for Marr.

Japanese Help (in order of appearance)

Daitaro = great firstborn

Jiro = second son

Ren = Lotus


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"This doesn't feel right," Karasu said. Ren agreed, he sensed a trap, the mission had seemed easy enough, a snatch and grab from under the noses of the enemy, yet they had already run into two guards. Karasu had killed them with her water dragon but they should not have been there at all. This was supposed to be a lightly, or non-guarded caravan, carrying simple letters to and from the Sun, Moon and Star nations surrounding the Shadow Nation and its lands.

Yet he could sense many more people than there should have been, the guards had been Sun nation Chunin, but Ren was worried about Jonin. Daitaro whispered, "should we retreat? It's getting dicey here." Ren shook his head they had a mission to do. They continued their stealthy crouched walk, Karasu was behind Ren but in front of Jiro, and Daitaro, yet she had a bad feeling. They were in a wide-open space on one of the roads connecting the Nations together. She felt ill at ease without cover, Marr's continued training had taught her that much. "Animals are weakest when they have no cover, no defense, only running is left when the predator comes hunting." They saw the wagon carrying the letters in the distance and Ren took three more steps towards it, when Karasu said, "wait" in a harsh and slightly loud tone.

Ren stopped, he looked down, and there he saw a tripwire, which he had almost blundered right into. He sighed, turned and whispered, " thanks Karasu, ok that's enough, let's go, too much protection for this caravan around here. That tripwire has an explosive tag on it, that means more Ninja, we need to leave." The squad nodded and began to retreat when out of nowhere, someone shouted, "where do you think your going their guys?" The squad turned, and saw three Sun Nation negotiators standing on a hill; eight more men dressed in the red armor of the Sun Village Jonin soon joined them. "Looks to me like we have ourselves some thieves boys, and Shadow Village thieves as well." The men circled the squad that had now formed a defensive formation. "Well boys time to punish these little thieves." One of the men said confidently, the enemy Jonin crouched, and drew their assorted weapons.

Karasu was frightened, she was not sure they could defeat eight Jonin they were only Chunin. Then she remembered who always was watching over her, she silently smiled to herself, one of the enemy Jonin saw an asked "what are you smiling about girl?" Karasu looked right at him and said, "leave now and none of you will die." The men burst into laughter, the same man asked, "four Chunin defeating the eight of us? How do you plan on doing that missy?" Karasu restated her statement and added "last chance." The men angered now advanced two steps, when they did that Karasu raised her hand (which made the Jonin falter a step) to the sky and looked at Marr's raven, then she whispered softly "Marr." There was a sudden burst of darkness that seemed to form in front of her, it looked like the earth was bleeding ink, and out of the ink, Marr appeared standing calmly, with his arms behind his back.

"Yes my lady how may I be of assistance?" Karasu replied "these men are threatening us isn't that rude?" Marr turned to face the men, and replied, "it is at that." He repeated Karasu's statement "leave now and none of you will die."

The men, surprised from his sudden appearance, yet still angered by Marr's nonchalant attitude and stance moved forward. Marr sighed and then instantly afterwards and seemingly without any movement or effort from Marr, in the center of all the men's chests their appeared a fist sized hole right where their hearts had been. Their respective hearts were now on the ground in front of their legs. Marr pointed his blood covered, finger down and the men looked and saw the holes in their chests and then saw their hearts, they fell in heaps to the ground and died. Marr turned back towards Karasu he deactivated his Jikangan, and said "well my lady that is all of them."

Karasu replied "thank you Marr, I can always count on you can't I?" "My pleasure my lady and yes" here Marr moved closer to Karasu and said in a lower tone. "You can always count on me, if you will excuse me." He kissed her hand, then melded back into the black ink like liquid, that then sank into the earth. Daitaro spoke "damn this is only the second time I've seen him move like that, and it still scares the shit out of me. How can you be near him at all Karasu? He is a monster." Karasu turned quickly, and frowned at Daitaro, he quickly corrected his statement saying, "I mean a monster of skill, like not an actual monster. Oh come on you know what I mean." Karasu replied "yeah I know, and he is intimidating I guess, its just, I know that the last thing in this world that he would ever do is harm me." Daitaro responded "must be nice to have him at your beck and call, I would never worry about anything."

Karasu nodded, she agreed, her life was so much easier, and peaceful, with him around. It had been five months since she began missions with her squad, she was happy to say this was the only time she had ever called for Marr, it was a sense of pride for her that she was not relying on him. Yet under his tutelage she had become nearly as powerful as Ren, and obviously more observant. Marr's training was also going well and was nearly done; he was going to become a village Assassin. They had both had a birthday in the recent months, Karasu's in the fall season. Marr's in the winter, he was now 17 and she was 16. She had grown out her raven bluish black hair longer, (mainly because Marr said he liked longer hair.) She had become more skilled and confident, due to Marr's training and her squad, who were becoming her best friends.

Marr had grown an inch, and had become monstrously powerful, more than he had ever been before. Kenji had been teaching him instant killing techniques and Jutsu, as well as flashier, incredibly powerful Jutsu. He had accidently destroyed a nearby house once, in a session with Kenji. He had become able to move in ghostly, utter silence. He had also changed the red streaks in his hair to blonde-ish white wisps, which only covered very small portions of his hair. He told her it was because he was happier. Karasu hoped it was because of her. He had also changed his style of clothing from the Jonin armor of their village to the apprentice Assassin armor of the village, it was a black duster that had a collar that laid flat and framed the neck, the inner fabric of the duster was black like the outside, but once Marr received his official Assassin armor he could choose his own color.

Visible while the duster was open there was the smoky black armor Jonin wore, yet, stronger, more complex and better made than any normal Jonin would ever get to wear, it was chakra imbued and had defenses against all types of Jutsu. For now Marr simply wore the standard duster and armor, he would receive the chakra armor and his specific Assassin duster, when he advanced. He wore the standard one now, as part of his training. It was expected that the Assassins, would be able to overcome the movement constraints it had, the armor was heavier than any they had worn before, and the duster went down to the middle of their legs. Which meant it was sometimes difficult to move in, luckily it was only buttoned up near their chest (if buttoned at all, most wore it unbuttoned) so their legs were always free to move. Marr said it was difficult fighting against Kenji in it at first, but he was getting used to it. It had the usual armament pockets along with secret pockets on the inside, and normal looking pockets on the outside.

However inside they hid a shortcut to the armament pockets and satchels, so someone as fast as Marr could have three shuriken flying at you before you saw him move. Even without his Jikangan he had become frighteningly fast. Kenji now could not keep up with Marr, unless he used his own Jikangan. Marr had nearly mastered his Jikangan as well, going as far to increase his perception by over 300% at one time. He had told Karasu that what he used to do was trivial; anywhere form 1 to 100% he could accomplish easily. In a few weeks Marr would become a hand of Lord Baragon. Kenji had begun to teach him about the politics and governments in the Shadow Nation as well as the other Nations. So Marr would have something to do. Marr like a sponge had soaked up everything Kenji knew, with almost no issue. Marr even had a substantial number of lightning style Jutsu now, including the Chidori.

Marr had simplified it down, to just four hand seals, and had also thrown out the naming of Raiton (lightning style), at the beginning. Now it was his Chidori, and not a copy of Kenji's. He had also told Karasu that he was working on something special involving the Chidori, but he would not tell her what. Kenji said it took too much chakra for him to create. So he never used it on his contracts, but Marr was planning on making the Chidori, his go to instant kill Jutsu. The speed with which, he could attack and kill you with it, especially when he activated his Jikangan, was apparently too fast for even Kenji using the full extent of his Jikangan to see. Marr said it was still visible at around 230% of increased perception but anything below that, and it was impossible to see.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

"Well Marr, how do you feel? It is the quickest Jonin to Hand transition I have ever seen but it is what you wanted at least." Kenji waited for a response. Marr simply nodded, in truth, he was happy that he would become a Hand of lord Baragon tomorrow, and could start accepting contracts and start earning a name for himself, as well as money to give his family a proper burial. Yet, he was worried the appointment would mean more time away from protecting Karasu, and he could not be assured that, during one of his contracts or one of her missions that nothing would ever go wrong.

Plus he was worried he was unready for the appointment, he knew he was powerful enough and now he had the skills to back up his power, but he still was unfamiliar with the politics and governments of the nations. Before this past month he did not even know the names of the Nations surrounding the Shadow Nation, or that the Shadow Nations whole existence was due to a militaristic break from the Sun Nation, and that their name was because of the break as well they were no longer in the Sun so would remain in Shadow (also someone thought it would be a good idea to name them after the entire continent, probably a show of intention to conquer.) He was unfamiliar with all of it, yet despite all that he would be sent to kill targets in all the Nations including his own sometimes, often the targets would have important connections that he could not kill in the process of attempting to kill his actual target.

He was worried of starting a war. Marr thinking of this pointed at the map of the Shadow Lands and then pointed at each of the nations within the Shadow Lands, Kenji catching his drift asked, "worried about the politics huh?" Marr nodded. "Listen Marr when I started as one of Lord Baragon's Hand I had a third of the power you have and half of the skill. Politics tend not to matter when you are fast enough to kill your target before he even sees you. Don't worry." Kenji continued "anyways we should go to Master Yuri, he has one final Kendo lesson before we give you your weapons of choice tomorrow. By the way Marr, your Kendo is the best I have ever seen, and we have other Assassins that choose the Katana as well but they can't do what you do with it. Have you thought of the style and dimensions yet?" Marr nodded then turned to Kenji and gave a half smile.

Kenji asked "what?" Marr held up two fingers signifying two. Kenji's jaw hit the ground "your going to fight with two Katana?" Marr nodded he imitated Master Yuri. Kenji asked "you have been working on it with Master Yuri?" Marr nodded again. Kenji followed up with "wait I thought Katana were to large to handle with one hand. Marr nodded but then made a motion with his hands that looked like he was squeezing something. Kenji guessed "your going to have them made shorter?" Marr nodded, all the while angered at himself for not being able to talk properly with Kenji. He just simply could not talk to men even after knowing them for a long time; he guessed it was because deep down he still hated them for what they could do to women. Kenji was shocked he had seen the progress Marr had made with Master Yuri, who was the Kendo instructor for all of the Shadow Village Ninja, it was said he was a better Kenshi than the Shogun himself.

Two Katana though, he had heard of two swords being used, the Shogun used two but one was a Wakizashi a shorter sword easier to handle. Kenji liked his Sai just fine. He did not know much about Katana but Master Yuri did say Marr was skilled enough for any sword technique, so Master Yuri must have found a way to handle two Katana, and he had passed it on to Marr. They reached the Kendo Dojo that Master Yuri owned. He came out and said to Marr "come in my boy I am very excited to see your blades tomorrow, we will discuss the dimensions one more time and I will recommend a smith for you." Marr nodded, and went inside. Kenji turned and left. When Marr returned to Karasu's house later that night he told her the news. She was excited, but sad when she heard it was a private ceremony. She understood though, she told him to make sure to come back to her when it was over.

Marr nodded and waited until the morning. In the morning he went to Lord Baragon's mansion he entered the same room as always. Then was led to a dark room with Lord Baragon at the back, with three other people in a circle, he was told to stand in the center. He noticed one of the three was Kenji, the other two, must have been the other members of Lord Baragon's Hand. It was too dark to see them clearly but one was male and the other was female he could tell that much. He looked at his feet, there were chakra-imprinted symbols in the stone that looked like someone had written them out, in black ink. He noticed he was standing in the center of all the symbols. Lord Baragon, said authoritatively "Marr you have been tested and accepted, as one of the Hand of the Shadow Village as an Assassin in particular. You have trained with all styles of killing including your choice of armaments and have been recommended by all your teachers.

I find no fault in you so I ask for the three to mark you. Do you agree three?" The three people around Marr all said yes in unison. Again Lord Baragon spoke "you will become the fourth member of the Hand completing the Hand with me at the helm. Do you agree that you will be subject to the leader of the hand no matter who that shall be?" Marr nodded. "Do you wish to receive the mark, and become a Hand of Lord Baragon and a Shadow Village Assassin?" Marr nodded again." Lord Baragon said, "very well, Marr you will be subject to the marking ceremony, do not falter. Begin." The three around Marr sat and began forming hand seals at high speeds; Marr could feel the chakra they were joining to each other and to the symbols in the floor. The ink began to swirl towards Marr who was at the center of all of it.

The circle of ink constricted closer and closer until finally it leapt up to his left arm and began coiling around it, the physical pain was more intense than anything Marr had ever felt, yet, it was nothing compared to the emotional pain he had experienced so much of before. He stood resiliently not blinking or moving at all. The mark swirled around and around his arm finally settling in some places, and then it was done. Marr estimated it had taken about twenty minutes for his arm to be fully marked. It was a single thick line of black ink that started with ring wrapped around his upper arm just below his shoulder. The ring, then uncoiled and swirled around and around his arm towards his hand, the distance between the lines getting tighter and tighter as it neared his hand. When it reached his wrist it ended, with a final shackle like circle around his wrist.

Lord Baragon spoke "congratulations Marr you are now a Shadow Village Assassin, you have received the mark of the Assassin one that is to be hidden at all times except when completing contracts or in company of friends. Kenji and the other two Assassins all said congratulations in unison, and then exited. Lord Baragon said, "Marr you have already been asked to perform three contracts, you will receive them immediately, in your dead drop. You may complete them in any order within the time limit given for each, I have also sent your weapon specifications to your chosen Katanakaji, he requests your presence tomorrow to charge your weapons. The cost will be covered by the first three contracts any money revived from contracts after that will be deposited in your account as requested.

It will be yours to do with what you will." Marr was surprised, only three to pay for Kaji and Kori? Must be high paying contracts he thought. Lord Baragon continued "Marr until you are called to duty by me or the Shogun, you are to complete all contracts assigned to you. Otherwise you are free to do as you wish. Dismissed." Marr bowed his head and left, when he exited he had expected the other three to be waiting for him. Not even Kenji was there; apparently the Assassin life was a lone existence. Marr walked to his dead drop, an old gnarled destroyed tree on the way to Karasu's house, he found three envelopes. He also found his Assassin armor the standard Black duster, but it now had a red inside fabric, Marr's color, he could feel the armor, it was heavy and smoky black like normal Jonin armor yet he could feel it resonating with the protective chakra it had laced within it. Marr decided he would apply more chakra protection to it later.

He changed into it, and felt like he was a part of something, for the first time in a long time. It was an odd feeling; he put the contracts, in his dusters inner pocket, and returned to Karasu's house where he was sure a torrent of questions awaited him.

Japanese Help (in order of appearance)

Yuri = Swing, Sway, Shake

Kendo = Way of the Sword

Kenshi = Swordsman

Sai = cut, knife

Dojo = Place of the Way

Katanakaji = Sword smith

Kaji = Fire

Kori = Ice


End file.
